Amidst big names absence, South Zone and Central Zone face-off in Duleep Trophy final

Bengaluru, Sep 10 (IANS) With several big names away for Asia Cup duties or joining the India A team for the red-ball series against Australia A, South Zone and Central Zone the will be having one eye on the glittering Duleep Trophy when they face-off in the title clash final at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 on Thursday.

With the big names being absent, it means the final is set to be a subdued affair, with both teams expected to fielding new-look playing elevens. With Yash Thakur, Harsh Dubey, Khaleel Ahmed and Manav Suthar joining India A side, Central Zone have brought in Nachiket Bhute, Kukna Ajay Singh Kumar Kartikeya and Kuldeep Sen.

South Zone, meanwhile, have drafted in Smaran Ravichandran and C Andre Siddarth in place of Devdutt Padikkal and N Jagadeesan, who are off to join India A team. For Central Zone, they have reasons to feel confident about their batting line-up doing the heavy lifting in the final.

Captain Rajat Patidar, Danish Malewar and Shubham Sharma feature in the tournament’s top-four run-scorers list. But with several frontline bowlers absent, they will depend heavily on offspinner Saransh Jain and seamer Deepak Chahar to shoulder the majority of bowling duties.

For South Zone, led by Mohammed Azharuddeen, they will look towards Tanmay Agarwal and Ricky Bhui for big runs. Azharuddeen, who will take over wicketkeeping duties in Jagadeesan’s absence, will also look to play a captain’s knock in the final.

Unlike Central Zone, South Zone’s bowling attack, spearheaded by Gurjapneet Singh, hasn’t suffered much and that means they have an edge in this regard. If rain gods stay away, then another high-scoring contest appears likely to happen in the Duleep Trophy final.

When: Thursday, September 10, 9:30am IST

Where: BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1, Bengaluru

Where to watch: Star Sports Khel for live TV broadcast and JioHotstar for live streaming

Squads

Central Zone: Rajat Patidar (c), Ayush Pandey, Danish Malewar, Shubham Sharma, Sanchit Desai, Yash Rathod, Nachiket Bhute, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Aditya Thakare, Upendra Yadav (wk), Ajay Singh Kukna, Akshay Wadkar (wk), Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, and Saransh Jain

South Zone: Azharuddin (Captain & Wicketkeeper), Ricky Bhui (Vice-Captain), Smaran Ravichandran, Kale M, Sheikh Rasheed, Tanmay Agarwal, Salman Nizar, Andrew Siddarth, Tanay Thyagarajan, Gurjapneet Singh, Nidheesh, Kaushik V, Ankit Sharma, T Vijay, and Basil NP

--IANS

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