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Asok Dinda |
Calcutta/Indore: Impressive performances against West Zone and North Zone will act as confident boosters for East Zone, when they lock horns with Central Zone, in the Duleep Trophy final, on Sunday.
East, led by Nataraj Behera, will be eyeing their maiden Duleep title, against a gritty Central side who, too, have displayed commendable performance in the tournament so far. Against the much stronger South Zone side, Central’s solid batting stood out.
On paper, both the finalists look even. If East boast of Ashok Dinda, the highest wicket-taker of the season, Central, captained by Piyush Chawla, have high hopes from Robin Bist, who has accumulated most runs this season.
While Rajasthan’s Bist has scored 1310 runs with five centuries, Bengal’s Dinda has 52 scalps to his name. It’s needless to say that it will be an exciting battle between the two.
Adding to the X-factor of the game could be the pitch, which has a sprinkling of grass as of Saturday. A member of the East team management, however, confirmed that the side are happy with the wicket since their strength lies in the seamers. “We are not at all worried… The grass could actually help us since our seamers are in top form,” he said.
East’s pace department will be manned by Dinda, Basant Mohanty and Shami Ahmed. Shami is set to be drafted into the side in place of the injured Abu Nechim Ahmed, who has been released by the team management. East, therefore, will keep faith in their 3-1 attack with Shahbaz Nadeem as the lone spinner.
But chances of good batting displays cannot be ruled out too if one remembers the fact that the match will be played on the same venue — Usha Raje Scindia Stadium — where Virender Sehwag slammed a world-record 219, against the West Indies, just a few months back.
In the batting department, Central look a tad stronger. The likes of Naman Ojha, Mohammed Kaif and Bist have the experience and form to tackle the situation, and if needed, the pitch.
But at same time, it must be said that the Wriddhiman Sahas and Anustup Majumdars are in too good a form to be ignored. Anustup, in fact, will be the one to look out for as he has scored back-to-back centuries, against West and North.
Like East, Central, too, have an injury worry. Senior pacer Pankaj Singh is troubled by a shoulder injury and looks a doubtful starter. If he fails to be fully fit, the Rajasthan pacer’s statemate Rituraj Singh may come in.
And a good performance in the game will certainly not go unnoticed. Two national selectors — Mohinder Amarnath and Narendra Hirwani — are set watch the proceedings, claimed sources. With the upcoming Asia Cup on target, players like Dinda will no doubt hope to leave a mark on the game.
Teams
East Zone (likely): Dheeraj Jadhav, Manish vardhan, Natraj Behera (captain), Ishank Jaggi, Wriddhiman Saha, Biplab Samantray, Anustup Majumdar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Basant Mohanty, Shami Ahmed, Ashok Dinda
Central Zone (likely): Naman Ojha, Vineet Saxena, Mohammed Kaif, Mohnish Mishra, Robin Bist, Parvinder Singh, Buvaneshwar Kumar, Piyush Chawla (captain), Jalaj Saxena, TP Sudhindra, Pankaj Singh.
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