Final battle for Test slot ahead of Kiwi tour

As Indias tour to New Zealand approaches,there could be a few last-minute vacancies up for grabs. Not surprisingly,those elusive spots have received....

As Indias tour to New Zealand approaches,there could be a few last-minute vacancies up for grabs. Not surprisingly,those elusive spots have received the most hype and attention in the build-up to the Duleep Trophy final between South Zone and West Zone that begins on Thursday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Even as the likes of Wasim Jaffer,Parthiv Patel and S Sreesanth gear up to make an impression on the national selectors,its also time look back at a West-dominated 2008-09.

The Mumbai duo of Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane led the pack as seven of the top-ten run-getters in the Ranji Trophy Super League this season were from the West. Similarly,the bowling list was jointly led by Mumbais Dhawal Kulkarni and Saurashtras Ravindra Jadeja with 42 wickets apiece while there were four others from the region in the top ten.

While West had the most number of teams in the Super League,it also gave two of the semi-finalists,Mumbai and Saurashtra. And a victory over a strong South Zone outfit in their backyard would be the perfect icing on the cake for Jaffer and his brigade a feat that the Mumbai captain thinks wont be easy.

They have a full-strength squad this time around and have registered two convincing victories. Our win against East,on the other hand,was not our best performance, he says. Jaffer,who smashed a fantastic triple ton the last time he batted in Chennai,is optimistic that his bowlers have enough credentials to combat the in-form opposition batting line-up.

Meanwhile,South Zone captain S Badrinath,who replaced the injured VVS Laxman,insists that he has a wonderful opportunity to lead his team to their first victory in 13 years in the zonal competition.

Everybody has been talking about Wests formidable batting line-up. But with the likes of Dravid,Uthappa and Karthik,we are equally good on that front, he says.

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The Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman reveals that Murali Vijay,who comes back from a finger injury,will definitely play in place of Abhinav Mukund,while Sreesanth will replace Laxmipathy Balaji,who earned himself a national call-up.

As for incentives,Jaffer believes that any major performance during the match will definitely get due notice from the selectors. A great individual performance will anyway benefit the teams cause. A double-hundred or a ten-wicket match haul can even bring those who are not presently in the reckoning to the fore, he says.

Apart from being the most prolific run-scorer by a distance,Jaffer also managed to lift the Ranji Trophy in his debut as captain,and the Duleep Trophy will be a perfect way to cap the season.