Starting today: Battle of the bench-warmers

A thousand miles away from the raging euphoria surrounding Team India, there8217;s a different battle brewing in the sleepy city of Cuttack 8212; the tussle for the slot in the Test team that Sourav Ganguly will vacate at the end of the series.

A thousand miles away from the raging euphoria surrounding Team India, there8217;s a different battle brewing in the sleepy city of Cuttack 8212; the tussle for the slot in the Test team that Sourav Ganguly will vacate at the end of the series. As the country8217;s pool of fringe players descended here for the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy that begins on Thursday at the Barabati Stadium, it8217;s an irony that the country8217;s top domestic one-day tournament is turning into a fight for supremacy between the contenders for the Indian Test team8217;s middle-order slot.

Ganguly8217;s exit has turned the tournament 8212; usually a platform for the ODI team 8212; into a stage from where even a Test call could not be that far away for a whole bunch of players ranging from Subramaniam Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Manoj Tiwary, to more experienced batsmen such as Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina.

Perhaps that8217;s what Yuvraj 8212; skipper of the India Blue team 8212; meant when he said: 8220;This is not just another tournament, we all know it. If you look at the larger picture, there are interesting names in fray here like Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, or even say Virat Kohli, and then myself as well. Preparation for this is at all levels 8212; for the tournament, for the upcoming England series, and for the Indian team8217;s other big challenges this season.8221;

Among the names that are in the loop for the post-Ganguly scenario, Rohit and Badrinath are definitely the most talked about. The duo, dubbed as the next big batting pair in Indian cricket, share a camaraderie, a sort of healthy competition unseen in recent years.

Dav Whatmore, coach of the Yuvraj-led India Blue, summed it up: 8220;This championship is important for both 8212; players who8217;re already established and are looking to come back into the national team. And also for those aspiring to get a look-in for the long run,8221; he said on the eve of his team8217;s opening match against India Red.

Yuvraj8217;s team will open their campaign against Badrinath 038; Co in the day-night encounter on a placid-looking Barabati Stadium wicket. And in his characteristic style, Yuvraj asserted that his team were the favourites.

8220;We have good players in our line-up, and we8217;re confident,8221; said Yuvraj, who looked uncomfortable at the nets with his injured left knee heavily strapped. 8220;My form is not so great right now, so I8217;ll try to keep it nice and simple out there.8221;

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Mumbai coach Praveen Amre is in charge of the Badrinath-led India Reds, while Bharathi Arun coaches the India Green side led by Kaif. The three teams will play each other in a round-robin format, and the top two will fight it out in the final on Sunday. Amit Mishra, who was initially in the India Blue squad, has been replaced by Delhi leggie Chetanya Nanda.

India Blue from: Yuvraj Singh captain, Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik vice-captain, wk, Ravinder Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ashok Dinda, Pradeep Sangwan, Chetanya Nanda, Arjun Yadav, Siddharth Trivedi, R. Ashwin

India Red from: S Badrinath captain, M. Vijay, F. Fazal, Manoj Tiwary, Rohit Sharma, Jaydev Shah, Abhishek Nayar, Parthiv Patel, Praveen Kumar, Laxmipathy Balaji, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Mohnish Parmar, Wriddhiman Saha Live on Neo Cricket, 2 pm