Paying the price for placid wickets

By Ritesh Gupta

KANPUR, JAN. 10. There is nothing wrong when a home side teases the opposition. But in doing so time again and again, the host's over-reliance and contentment over the period may limit its own abilities.

To a large extent, the Indian pitches which are either placid or tailor-made for the spinners, have led to a phase where talent is found to be lacking on various fronts. Forget India's debacle Down Under or fight against minnows Bangladesh for a win, there was a struggle to bowl out Zimbabweans twice at home in the recent past.

Just when Duleep Trophy provides a chance to gear up for the much-awaited battle against the Australians, the tournament has started on a mundane note. With no willingness to experiment, the first leg of the league matches produced ordinary fares.

Even as one moves to this bustling city, which is gripped by a chilly weather, the playing surface at the Green Park Stadium, which will host the Central Zone versus East Zone four-day match from Thursday, provides a familiar dead outlook, which may help spinners later on. In such conditions, Das and his men will have their task cut out when they take on Central, a side which has been delivering the goods in almost every outing.

Central captain Amay Khurasiya, one of the most aggressive batsman in the country, has to his disposal a bunch of consistent performers. Central has collected five points from the first outing. ``We have been playing well as a team. Though, we will try for eight points though we will be satisfied with five, too,'' said Khurasiya.

The flamboyance of Jai Prakash Yadav, well exemplified with his 177 in the last match against West, and diligence of Amit Pagnis and Mohammad Kaif should prove handy for the host. With Gagan Khoda, left-hander Raja Ali, Rajasthan's all-rounder Rahul Kanwat and veteran Abhay Sharma providing a solid back-up, Central has few worries on the batting front.

Importantly, the return of Murali Kartik should augur well. The left-arm spinner, who was indisposed earlier, has been the pick of the Central bowlers in the past few seasons. The presence of leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani, who is recovering from a calf- muscle strain, besides off-spinners Rahul Kanwat or Krishna Parida, gives the Central attack a good look.

For East, which is yet to win the prestigious tournament, the campaign commences with a tough assignment. Since Ganguly, Devang Gandhi and Saba Karim are missing from the line- up, the likes of Das, Nikhil Haldipur, Rohan Gavaskar and R.R. Parida will have to deliver.

Das' Orissa-mate, Debasis Mohanty, has been bowling well of late. The lanky right-armer took a 10-wicket haul against Bengal. Central will need to be cautious as Mohanty may cause trouble early on. Assam's Javed Zaman will be there to lend support to Mohanty and in the spin department, Utpal Chatterjee and Sanjay Roul will share the burden along with Sukhwinder Singh or off- spinner Ganesh Kumar.

The teams (from):

Central: Amay Khurasiya (Captain), Mohammad Kaif, Gagan Khoda, Amit Pagnis, Jai Prakash Yadav, Devendra Bundela, Raja Ali, Yere Goud, Abhay Sharma (w.k.), Narendra Hirwani, Murali Kartik, Rahul Kanwat, Kulamani Parida, Ashish Winston Zaidi, Shalabh Srivastava and Rohit Jhalani (w.k.).

East: Shiv Sundar Das (Captain), Nikhil Haldipur, Reshmi Ranjan Parida, Zakaria Zufri, Sanjay Roul, Rohan Gavaskar, Rajiv Kumar, Deep Das Gupta (w.k.), Ganesh Kumar, D. Mohanty, Utpal Chatterjee, Mihir Diwakar, Javed Zaman, Sukhbinder Singh, Mridul Gupta.

Umpires: Messrs N. Muralidaran and K.R. Shankar (Chennai). Match Observer: Mr. Raju Bhatt (Gujarat).

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