In the absence of two key batters, South Zone will hope the likes of Tanmay Agarwal will come to party in the Duleep Trophy final against North Zone at the BCCI’s CoE.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: The battle lines could not have been drawn more clearly for the Duleep Trophy final -- South Zone’s bowling versus Central Zone's batting -- which gets underway at the Centre of Excellence here on the outskirts of Bengaluru from Thursday.
South Zone, however, will be a little concerned about their batting, with two of their biggest names missing in N Jagadeesan and Devdutt Padikkal, who are out after an India A call-up for the two unofficial four-day Tests against Australia A in Lucknow.
The zonal selectors have brought in two young talents in R Smaran and Andre Sidharth, who played crucial roles for their respective sides, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, in the Ranji Trophy last season.
While the hosts will miss the services of the two India recruits, the good news is that Tanmay Agarwal and Ricky Bhui are coming off decent batting outings, and they look like a unit playing with chemistry.
While the rest pick themselves, the hosts are likely to go with three seaming options in Gurjapneeth Singh, MD Nidheesh and Vasuki Koushik.
On the other side, Central Zone have also hit the reshuffle button, especially to their bowling, after the India A calls.
Madhya Pradesh's Kumar Kartikeya Singh and Vidarbha seamer Nachiket Bhute have replaced Harsh Dubey and Yash Thakur. Central will also have to do without Manav Suthar and Khaleel Ahmed with MP’s Kuldeep Sen and Rajasthan's Ajay Singh Kukna named as their replacements.
While the CoE has only hosted only two first-class matches, play-offs of this event, the small sample suggests that batting first will be the preferred option, where there have been plenty of runs up for grabs.
Both the Duleep Trophy quarterfinals and semifinals that the venue hosted ended in draws. It also sparked a bit of criticism from all-rounder Shardul Thakur, asking for sporting tracks.
South Zone's strength, however, will lie in their bowling and the attack will have their task cut out against a confident-looking Central Zone batting order.
Danish Malewar and Shubham Sharma have been in fine touch, while Rajat Patidar and Upendra Yadav are also enjoying good form. Yash Rathod, who failed to make a mark in the semifinal, will be itching to put on a substantive innings.
The bowling selection also looks very straightforward with the replacements. Aditya Thakare and Kuldeep Sen are most likely to come in for Yash Thakur and Khaleel and the left-arm spin option of Karthikeya might be the best choice for the outgoing Dubey. Saransh Jain, coming off a Player-of the Match performance in the semifinal, will lead the spin attack.
With both teams wearing depleted looks, they will be keen to find a way to cross the line.