South eager to put it across West

Teams South Zone (from): MSK Prasad (captain), Vijay R Bharadwaj (vice captain), Rowland Barrington, Sridharan Sriram, Sadagopan Ramesh, Sr...

Teams

South Zone (from): MSK Prasad (captain), Vijay R Bharadwaj (vice captain), Rowland Barrington, Sridharan Sriram, Sadagopan Ramesh, Sridharan Sharath, RVCh Prasad, H Watekar, Kiran Powar, Hemang Badani, BK Venkatesh Prasad, MR Shrinivas, KS Sahabuddin, M Suresh Kumar, D Vinay Kumar. Manager: GV Sanyasi Raju.

West Zone (from): Hrishikesh Kanitkar (capt), Connor Williams, Sitanshu Kotak, Nayan Mongia (wk), Sairaj Bahatule, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, Valmik Buch, Ajit Bhoite, Amol Muzumdar, Ramesh Powar, Lalit Patel, Siddarth Trivedi, Niranjan Godbole and Kaushik Aphale.

Both the sides will be missing some of their star players who have been picked for the national side for the West Indies tour. West are in fine tune, having coasted to an impressive win over Central and the star-studded North Zone in their previous matches and will be keen to continue their winning streak.

South Zone have their task cut out, and if they want to bridle the West, they have to give their best.

Story continues below this ad

Tamil Nadu’s S Sharath, Hemang Badani and S Sriram should grab the chance to give their best. The prolific southpaw Sharath cracked a century to force a draw against the North Zone in their first match.

West would be missing the services of Wasim Jaffer, whose batting exploits against North Zone, fetched him a berth in the national squad. But they have enough wherewithal in their armoury to counter the South.

Their batting strength revolves around skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Test-discard wicket keeper Nayan Mongia, Vinod Kambli and Connor Williams. Indian under-19 medium pacer Irfan Pathan (Jr), who is from the MRF Pace Foundation stable, and spinner Sairaj Bahutule and Ramesh Power have done their job admirably to steer the West to two wins in this premier tournament. One hopes they would not belie the expectations against the South.

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

Statehood protest takes violent turn in Ladakh, BJP office set ablaze in Leh

India1 hr ago

Protests in Ladakh turned violent as students and youth organisations demanded statehood and Sixth Schedule status. Two elderly protesters fainted, prompting a shutdown call. A BJP office and security vehicle were set on fire. Activist Sonam Wangchuk urged for a peaceful approach. The demand for Sixth Schedule status is due to Ladakh's tribal-majority population and direct central administration.

View all shorts

Live Blog