Mohali: The five teams are to battle it out in the inter-zonal Deodhar Trophy, starting with the quarter-final between Central Zone and South Zone on Friday in Mohali.
The winners of this match will meet North Zone, they have already reached the semi-finals, on Sunday in Dharamshala, the venue for the final of the four-day competition. The first semi-final will be held in Mohali between East and West.
The squads for the five zones have already been selected and comprise players who have performed well in the season. Uttar Pradesh's Piyush Chawla has been given the reins of Central's 16-man squad.
The batting responsibility will rest on the shoulders of veteran batsman Mohammad Kaif (UP), who is coming into the tournament after two half-centuries in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Also, there will be a two-way tussle between Naman Ojha (Madhya Pradesh) and Mahesh Rawat (Railways) for the wicketkeeper's spot. The pace department will be led by Railways' Krishnakant Upadhyay, who picked up 10 wickets in his debut List A season. TP Sudhindra (MP) has also taken the highest number of wickets - 40 in seven matches - in the Ranji Trophy. Chawla and Jalaj Saxena (MP) will play as spinning allrounders, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, a medium pace bowler from UP, will also be handy with his power-hitting down the order.
The experienced Dinesh Karthik has been chosen as South's skipper. He too is in form with 105 and 137 against Andhra and Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. His Tamil Nadu team-mate Srikkanth Anirudha scored three half-centuries with a best of 94 against Andhra. Abhinav Mukund, the most consistent TN player, would like to repeat his Ranji success where he made 872 runs in nine matches.
The 15-man West squad will be led by Parthiv Patel. Ajinkya Rahane has already been a part of the Indian team and this could be another opportunity for the right-hander to get in the selectors' reckoning. Ankit Bawne, a 19-year-old from Maharashtra, was among the runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, scoring 117 and an unbeaten 93 against Saurashtra and Mumbai respectively.
Harbhajan Singh has been helping Punjab's cause more with the bat than ball recently. His unbeaten 79 proved crucial in the game against Maharashtra, while a 39 not out came in the losing cause against Bengal in the semis. But North will expect their skipper to shine both with the bat and ball. Seasoned campaigner Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi) is expected to give them a good start, while Paras Dogra (Himachal) should also make his mark in the middle order. Young Mandeep Singh (Punjab) would like to carry on his consistent run.
By Indian Sports News
