The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : South to take on East

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 29, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

South to take on East

By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD, JAN. 28. East Zone may be facing the calm before the storm. South Zone, a side with a decent one-day mix, is expected to fire after two lukewarm performances in the Deodhar Trophy.

Skipper V.V.S. Laxman himself will hope to convert form into runs during the third league game at the Motera stadium.

Strokes of silken quality flowed off his blade the moment he opened out against Central Zone at Pune, but did not stay long enough to instil fear in the bowlers.

The South Zone captain pierced the West Zone fielding twice at the Wankhede stadium, only to be dismissed on eight. Laxman cannot be kept away from runs for so long a duration. East Zone bowlers and fielders will face the punishment if he is determined to shoulder responsibility for the side.

The other specialists in the South batting line-up have to stand up and be counted the way number five Venugopala Rao is responding to situations.

Dinesh Kaarthick, promoted to opener's slot against West Zone as part of the team's quest for balance, paid the price for a rash stroke at the Wankhede. It may be East's turn to face the fury of the wicket-keeper's frustration.

With two defeats in as many matches, East is under no pressure. The batting has a grafter in Rohan Gavaskar, the need is for explosive middle-order batsmen like the way M.S. Dhoni handled West's attack.

Laxman's options are limited if his bowling resources are stretched. N.C. Aiyappa, operating with the new ball, is making batsmen work for runs, as did left-arm spinner Sreekumar Nair.

The teams (from):

South Zone: V.V.S. Laxman (capt), S. Sriram, Venugopala Rao, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, S. Badrinath, Arjun Yadav, Dinesh Kaarthick, N.C. Aiyappa, Tinu Yohannan, Vishnuvardan, Sreekumar Nair, R. Barrington, M.R. Srinivas, Swapnil Asnodkar.

East Zone: Devang Gandhi (capt), S.S. Das, M.S. Dhoni, Rohan Gavaskar, L.R. Shukla, P. Jayachandra, Sanjib Sanyal, Niranjan Behere, Shahid Khan, Ranadeb Bose, D. Mangraj, S.S. Paul.

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