Opportunity for South to redeem some prestige

Panaji, January 31: Star-studded South Zone, led by Rahul Dravid will clash against Amay Khurasia-led strong Central Zone in their last Duleep Trophy league match to be played at Gymkhana ground here from tomorrow. Central Zone are in a buoyant mood having drawn all their three matches so far and being placed third. Their manager Rajinder Singh Hans said his side is well balanced with Jay Prakash Yadav, Mohd Kaif, skipper Khurasia and Yere Goud having performed well in the earlier matches.

He said Jay Prakash Yadav and Gagan Khoda are likely to open the innings. In their bowling department it looks fine with medium pacer Shalab Srivastav and Jay Prakash Yadav expected to share the bowling along with Ashish Winston Zaidi. The spin department also looks sound with Narendra Hirwani in good form and support will be from Mohd Kaif and Murali Kartik.

Though South are placed at the bottom with eight points, they look a powerful side on paper. They have a strong batting line-up with skipper Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, S Sriram, V Bharadwaj, T Nanda Kishore and Aashish Kapoor.