The dynamic trio of Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shardul Thakur will aim to make a statement when a star-studded West Zone faces Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy semifinal on Thursday.
Iyer, who
was left out of India’s Asia Cup squad, is eager to start the season on a positive note and keep himself in contention for crucial assignments, such as the home series against the West Indies and the subsequent white-ball tour of Australia.
This phase may be particularly frustrating for Iyer, whose impressive performance of 604 runs across 17 matches for Punjab Kings, with an average of 50.33 and a strike rate above 175, did not resonate with the selectors during the Asia Cup selection.
However, if he can channel that frustration into runs, it would benefit the West Zone.
Jaiswal presents a slightly different scenario. Having already secured his place in the Test side, the young left-hander would want to maintain his red-ball game time ahead of the home series against the West Indies and world champions South Africa.
His last competitive outing was the fifth Test against England at the Oval, and since he has yet to crack the white ball code, Jaiswal might have to wait until the series against the West Indies in October for an international appearance.
On the other hand, Thakur, who is set to lead West Zone, will try to enhance his reputation after lukewarm performances against England in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy to stay on the selectors’ radar.
Other prominent members of the West Zone team, like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tanush Kotian, will hope for strong performances to get back into national reckoning.
On paper, West Zone appears to have many strong players, but Central Zone is no pushover.
Dhruv Jurel might return to lead them if the India wicketkeeper batter has recovered from a groin niggle that kept him out of the quarterfinals against North East Zone.
Even without Jurel, their batting lineup showed strength as stand-in skipper Rajat Patidar, Danish Malewar, and Shubham Sharma scored big hundreds last week.
They also have a competent bowling unit with left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey and pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar.
They will nonetheless face a tough challenge against a strong West Zone batting lineup, which will miss an injured Sarfaraz Khan, on a BCCI Centre of Excellence pitch that appeared slow and smooth during the quarterfinals.
Additionally, they will be without left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who is travelling to Dubai to join India’s Asia Cup squad.
Squads: West Zone: Shardul Thakur (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aarya Desai, Harvik Desai (wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Shivalik Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingrajia, Saurabh Nawale (wicket-keeper), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Dharmandrasinh Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Arzan Nagwaswala.
Central Zone: Dhruv Jurel (c/wk), Rajat Patidar (vc), Aryan Juyal, Danish Malewar, Sanjeet Desai, Aditya Thakare, Deepak Chahar, Saransh Jain, Ayush Pandey, Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed.
North take on South
The absence of Tilak Varma, who has left for Dubai to prepare for the Asia Cup, along with injured pacer Vysakh Vijayakumar and left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore, will weaken South Zone.
As a result, they will need strong performances from players like N Jagadeesan, Devdutt Padikkal, and Salman Nizar, who recently hit 11 sixes in 13 balls in the Kerala Cricket League, to overcome North’s challenge.
North will also be without pacers Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, as they are part of the Asia Cup squad.
India pacer Anshul Kamboj is likely to step in for this match.
Thus, they will require another strong performance from Ayush Badoni, skipper Ankit Kumar, and Yash Dhull, who scored centuries in the quarterfinals.
Squads:
South Zone: Mohammed Azharuddeen (C), Tanmay Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, Narayan Jagadeesan, Tripurana Vijay, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vasuki Koushik, Nidheesh MD, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar, Ankit Sharma, Shaikh Rasheed.
North Zone: Ankit Kumar (C), Shubham Khajuria, Ayush Badoni, Yash Dhull, Ankit Kalsi, Nishant Sandhu, Sahil Lotra, Mayank Dagar, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Kanhaiya Wadhawan. Standbys: Shubham Arora (wk), Jaskaranvir Singh Paul, Ravi Chauhan, Abid Mushtaq, Nishunk Birla, Umar Nazir, Divesh Sharma.
Matches start at 9.30 AM.
(With PTI Inputs)
