Published: Oct 29, 2014, 07:30 AM (IST)
Edited: Oct 29, 2014, 05:44 AM (IST)
The final match of the 2014-15 edition of the Duleep Trophy will be played between South Zone and Central Zone in Delhi. Though it is a clash that is not expected to attract much attention, it is a vital encounter nevertheless for the players involved. South Zone start as clear favourites and will bank on the quality of Robin Uthappa and Pragyan Ojha, writes Nishad Pai Vaidya.
Away from the hype and hoopla surrounding international cricket, the Duleep Trophy ensues in near obscurity. South Zone and Central Zone will battle it out for the title in the final at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. Following quality performances in the semi-final encounters, the two teams brace for this challenge for zonal supremacy. While South Zone make their way to Delhi from Lahli — where runs were hard to come by on a seaming deck, Central Zone arrive after a run-fest in Mohali. The contrasting build-ups make the final an interesting one in prospect.
At the outset, one may say that South Zone are the clear favourites purely on quality. They have as many as six international players in the side and that makes them a very dangerous unit. On the other hand, Central Zone have four players who have made international appearances, and others such as Ishwar Pandey, who has been a part of the India side at some point. However, the balance is tipped in favour of South Zone as they have come through a much tougher encounter — in testing conditions.
South Zone would bank on Robin Uthappa to give them a good platform. At Lahli, Uthappa stood out and showed his true quality. On a wicket where the next best personal score was 32, Uthappa smashed 120. What makes it more remarkable is the fact that he took only 196 balls to get those runs — which was no easy task. It is quite mystery that he has been kept out of the India A side for the practice game against Sri Lanka. With each passing game, he continues to inspire more confidence, and yet he hasn’t been able to break in after a tough series Down Under for India A.
Uthappa has some good support in the batting line-up with KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Baba Aparajith, and Abhinav Mukund. They will miss the services of Karun Nair and Manish Pandey, who are away on India A duty against Sri Lanka. Despite their absence, South Zone have a very strong batting line-up and should be able to deal with the challenge well.
In the bowling department, they have R Vinay Kumar, the captain, Abhimanyu Mithun and HS Sharath. However, they will only want to play two seamers as Delhi’s wicket supports spin. Thus, HS Sharath may have to make way for the wrist-spinner Shreyas Gopal. Pragyan Ojha will be a crucial factor in this team and has to form a good partnership with Shreyas. Both the spinners will turn it away from the right-hander. Thus, Aparajith will have to bowl his off-spinners to add variety to the attack.
As one can see, Karnataka dominate the South Zone side. The next visible contributor to this team is Tamil Nadu. A fusion of both these units makes South Zone a very dangerous team on their day. Central Zone have their task cut-out.
(Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Correspondent with CricketCountry and anchor for the site’s YouTube Channel. His Twitter handle is @nishad_45)
