On numerous occasions, Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath has found himself unlucky to find a place in the Indian team despite being one of the prolific run-getters in the domestic circuit. The South Zone skipper, in the ongoing Duleep Trophy tie against East, has another chance on Wednesday to sound the selectors with his batting as they chase 169 set by the opponents at the Wankhede Stadium.On the face of it the target may not be difficult, but East, with Debasis Mohanty, Ranadeb Bose and SS Paul in their ranks, have the fire power to upset South’s calculations. Going by its past record, the Wankhede wicket has helped seamers at least initially. South Zone are three wickets down already, with 113 on board and Badrinath — batting on 42 — will have to apply himself carefully to see his side through. South Zone lost the wickets of M Vijay (0), Ravi Teja (52) and Arjun Yadav (12). Badrinath failed to earn his ticket for the Australia tri-series but his contribution in the 56 runs left to be scored tomorrow will provide him a great deal of confidence.Brief Scores: East Zone 313 & 163 (A Majumdar 44, H Das 52, R Ashwin 3/33, P Ojha 2/54, Vijay Kumar 2/28, NSC Aiyappa 2/20) vs South Zone 204 & 113-3 (Ravi Teja 54, S Badrinath 42 batting; Saha 2/27)
