The Hindu : Sport : Pitch holds the key

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 15, 2005

Sport

Sport

Pitch holds the key

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW, FEB. 14. The pitch remained a concern for the teams — North Zone and West Zone — on the eve of the Duleep Trophy match starting at the K.D. Singh `Babu' Stadium here.

Some of the big names of Indian cricket will be on view at this multipurpose sports venue with the playing surface holding the key to a good contest over the next four days. If the North Zone players were apprehensive of the pitch it was understandable, for the match provides selection opportunity to some and assumes importance ahead of the series against Pakistan next month. The ball is likely to keep low. "Bounce would have been welcome but let us see how the pitch behaves,'' remarked North skipper Virender Sehwag.

North has a star batting line-up with Aakash Chopra, Gautam Gambhir, Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Mongia in its ranks against an opposition which has lost the services of Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar and Sairaj Bahtule on fitness grounds.

North's batting should dictate the course of the match. "Batting remains our strong point but I expect the bowlers to perform their role to perfection,'' said coach Surender Khanna. The North team management was, however, undecided on the opening pair with Sehwag, Gambhir and Chopra in contention.

For someone like Amit Bhandari, if he gets the nod tomorrow, the match should provide another opportunity to stake his claims.

Punjab medium-pacer Gagandeep Singh belongs to the same league and remains the spearhead of an attack which would be strengthened by the presence of Ashish Nehra.

West would rely on Wasim Jaffer, a quality opener with the right attitude for the job. He has had a fruitful season and a comeback should be high on his mind as he continues his pursuit to return to the big league. Gujarat seamer Siddharth Trivedi, the replacement for Pathan, and Zaheer Khan will be the key bowlers North would need to contend with.

The teams (from):

North: Virender Sehwag (capt.), Dinesh Mongia, Aakash Chopra, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Ravneet Ricky, Manvinder Singh Bisla, Joginder Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Amit Bhandari, Gagandeep Singh, Sangram Singh, Amit Mishra, Pankaj Dharmani and Vishal Bhatgia.

West: Zaheer Khan (capt.), Wasim Jaffer, Vinit Indulkar, Kiran Powar, Neeraj Patel, Siddharth Trivedi, Dheeraj Jadhav, Parthiv Patel, Ranjeet Khirid, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Satyajit Parab, Rakesh Patel, Akash Christian and Jaidev Shah.

Umpires: Messrs V.N. Kulkarni and Alok Bhattacharjee; Match Referee: Prof R.S. Rathore.

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