The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : South meets West in Duleep opener

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Thursday, Oct 19, 2006
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South meets West in Duleep opener

Nandakumar Marar

INDORE: The duel between one of India's most intimidating bowlers — Anil Kumble, playing for South Zone — versus West Zone, apart from various side battles, promises to make the Duleep Trophy tie into an event projecting the dynamism and depth in Indian cricket.

The task before the South Zone captain, V.V.S. Laxman, is to create a mood within the squad wherein teammates feed off the leg-spinner's keenness to make an impact with every ball in the four-day opener at the Usha Raje stadium here.

Laxman, leading a side with so many bowling options that batsmen will be tested session-to-session, has the luxury of choosing between Laxmipathy Balaji, Sreesanth and Yo Mahesh to operate with the new ball. Young left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha is likely to team up with Kumble.

Balaji displayed glimpses of his skill in the Irani Trophy, where Ojha was under-bowled.

Sporting track

Curator Samundar Singh Chouhan promises a sporting track, which will bring out the best in both sides, though Laxman feels the track is slow and low.

Kookaburra balls will be used in Duleep Trophy this year, according to selector Sanjay Jagdale.

The absence of West Zone skipper Wasim Jaffer, rested due to a recent injury, may have a bearing on the game. Parthiv Patel, promoted to captaincy, is leading a side bristling with aggressive batsmen in Dhiraj Jadhav, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Amol Muzumdar.

The teams:

South Zone (from): V.V.S. Laxman (captain), Anil Kumble, S. Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Venugopala Rao, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Sreesanth, L. Balaji, Pragyan Ojha, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, Arjun Yadav, Ibrahim Khaleel, Gnaneshwar Rao, Swapnil Asnodkar. Coach: Abdul Azeem.

West Zone (from): Parthiv Patel (captain), Dhiraj Jadhav, Jacob Martin, Rohit Sharma, Vinit Indulkar, Amol Muzumdar, Kiran Powar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sairaj Bahutule, Zaheer Khan, Rajesh Pawar, Siddharth Trivedi, Ravinder Jadeja, Suyash Burkul, Sandeep Maniar. Coach: Atul Bedade.

Umpires: Francis Gomes and Sudhir Asnani. Match referee: Sunil Chaturvedi

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