Mumbai, Nov 28: South Zone have a chance to avenge their loss to Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy final earlier this month when the two teams line up here tomorrow at the Wankhede Stadium in the quarter final of the five-day Deodhar Trophy limited overs tournament.
South had lost to Central in Delhi’s Ferozshah Kotla ground by just nine runs after having taken a handy first innings lead.
South are being led by R Vinay Kumar of Karnataka who was their captain in the Duleep clash while Central too have their winning skipper Piyush Chawla in the saddle.
South have seven players who led Karnataka to the Vijay Hazare Trophy limited overs title recently in Ahmedabad and thus possess a strong batting and effective bowling line-up to severely test their rivals.
The winners of this match would take on defending champions West Zone in the second semi final here on December 1 following the first semi final on November 30 between East and North, who were runners-up to West in March this year.
The final, a day-night clash, is scheduled on December 3.
The tournament is being held for the second time in the same calendar year as the selectors wanted to see as many domestic one-day matches as possible before finalising the list of 30 probables for the 2015 World Cup and the tournament was brought forward to the beginning of the new season.
This is an additional incentive for all players to do well and catch the eyes of the selectors before they finalise the World Cup probables list.
The match is being held away from the tragic happening in Australia where cricketer Phillip Hughes died after being struck on the neck by a bouncer in a domestic competition and the two teams are saddened with the loss of life with Kumar stating the news numbed him.
“Yes it is difficult (to digest). When I heard the news even I was kind of numb for two minutes. I didn’t know how to react. Most of the cricketers are going through the same thing. Unfortunately, it happened but we need to move on, think about cricket and try to perform,” said the Karnataka pace bowler. (PTI)
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