A keen battle to follow

By Vijay Lokapally

KANPUR, DEC 16.This should be a cracker of a contest, capable of attracting the spectators to the Green Park. North Zone meeting South Zone in the Deodhar Trophy semifinal is big news here even as it should be the stage for some to make a point or two.

The presence of Yuveraj Singh in the North Zone line up should excite the young generation of cricket lovers while discards like Robin Singh and Vikram Rathour lead their respective combinations with lot of hope. It is a pity, both these committed cricketers happen to be in the same boat with age being their stiffest opposition. It is another matter they may not be inferior to any youngster in terms of fitness and discipline.

Motivation is in abundance in both the camps though the absence of National selectors at such fixtures does not speak well for the manner in which the Board looks at this premier limited overs competition in domestic cricket. There was none to witness the South-East contest on Friday and statistics do not always convey the right message.

The selection of Pankaj Dharmani in the North Zone team deserves praise. This prolific Punjab batsman had been a source of strength for the zonal squads in the Deodhar and Duleep tournaments last season. The young strokemaker, Dinesh Mongia, should try and extend his range of feats with some good work here while Gautam Gambhir, the gifted left-hander from Delhi, might learn a thing or two watching the seniors in both the sides.

South is on a high after eliminating East in a tight finish but this outing shall require far more focus and planning. On paper, there might be little to distinguish between the teams and that makes it a keen contest to follow. The bowlers will hold the key tomorrow. Both the teams had nets today. But North Zone was without Yuveraj and Reetender who had been held up in Mumbai and are expected tonight.

The teams (From) : North :Vikram Rathour (Capt), Vijay Dahiya, Pankaj Dharmani, Yuveraj Singh, Virendra Sehwag, Reetender Singh Sodhi, Dinesh Mongia, Harbhajan Singh, Rahul Sanghvi, Ashish Nehra, Gagandeep Singh, Amit Bhandari, Gautam Gambhir, Padamjeet Sharawat and Pradeep Chawla.

South : Robin Singh (Capt), J. Arun Kumar, Amit Pathak, V. V. S. Laxman, S. Sharath, Vijay Bharadwaj, Prasad Reddy, T. Kumaran, Dodda Ganesh, W. D. Balaji Rao, Venkatapathy Raju, S. Mahesh, Vanka Pratap, Sreekumar Nair, Y. Venugopal Rao and N. Madhukar.

Umpires : Messrs S. B. Nandy and S. K. Sharma; Match observer : Mr. Ratin Mitra.

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