Deodhar: Selectors look ahead

Ever since Kapil Dev quit the scene, the lack of genuine allrounders has been the biggest concern for India. While every other team right combination for their one-day squad with bits and pieces players India had been struggling over a period of time. No doubt, it is difficult to find a replacement for Kapil, but a beginning seems to have been made if one goes by the selection of squads for the Deodhar Trophy.

The West Zone squad, announced today, has a number of batting and bowling allrounds with Ajit Agarkar leading the side. So is the case with the Central Zone. According to chairman of the national selection committee Kiran More, the team was picked keeping in view the 2007 World Cup. 8216;8216;India8217;s lack of all-rounders has also been taken into consideration,8217;8217; he said, adding, 8216;8216;we are weak in some departments of the game. Say, for instance, we don8217;t have good allrounders, which is essential in today8217;s limited-overs cricket..8217;8217;

Another thing the selectors seem to have considered is form. Gujarat8217;s Niraj Patel, who scored more than 1000 runs this season, has been duely rewarded while Baroda all-rounder Yusuf Pathan has caught the selectors eye after his impressive show. So are Maharashtra8217;s hard-hitting opener and medium pacer Dhruv Mohan, Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Shah.

West zone: Ajit Agarkar Capt, Vinayak Mane, Amol Mazumdar all Mumbai; Parthiv Patel vc, Niraj Patel, Aakash Christian all Gujarat; Dheeraj Jadhav, Ranjit Khirid, Dhruv Mohan all Maharashtra; Satyajit Parab, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan Sr all Baroda and Jaydev Shah Saurashtra.

Central zone: Mohammad Kaif Capt, R P Singh, Praveen Gupta, Suresh Raina all UP, Sanjay Pandey, Abbas Ali, Naman Ojha all MP, Sanjay Bangar, Raja Ali, Harvinder Singh, Amit Pagnis, J P Yadav, Murli Kartik all Rlys, A Naidu Vidarbha, S Mathur Rajasthan .