Duleep Trophy final | Batting paradise expected as Central takes on South

The first two rounds of the Duleep Trophy held at the BCCI CoE grounds on the outskirts of the city meandered along without much impetus.

Played without fanfare behind closed doors, in a legacy tournament struggling for relevance, the action on batting-friendly pitches oftentimes fell flat.

Now set for the final between South Zone and Central Zone (commencing here on Thursday), the absence of key players has taken the sheen away from what should have been a grand occasion.

On account of being picked for the India-A team to face Australia-A, batters N. Jagadeesan and Devdutt Padikkal will miss this outing for South Zone.

Central will have to make do without pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Yash Thakur, and all-rounder Harsh Dubey. Manav Suthar, who was not part of the XI in the semifinal against West Zone, will also be away on India-A duty.

Azharuddeen.
| Photo Credit:
FILE PHOTO: NIRMAL HARINDRAN

South skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen is likely to don the wicketkeeping gloves in place of Jagadeesan. Azharuddeen, who made only 11 in the high-scoring semifinal against North Zone, stated that he was happy that Jagadeesan and Devdutt have been rewarded for their consistency.

“I am really happy for them, because Jaggi (Jagadeesan) has been doing really well for the last two to three years,” Azharuddeen said.

With the BCCI CoE Ground (1) yielding a total of nearly 2,300 runs in the two matches held thus far, another run feast is on the cards. Saddle up and rack up a mammoth score – this is the simple plan of action.

“We are playing with seven batters. This is an advantage because Bengaluru pitches always favour the batters. We want to keep it simple. Whether you bat first or second, we just want to put up a huge score,” Azharuddeen added.