The first two rounds of the Duleep Trophy held at the BCCI CoE grounds on the outskirts of the city meandered along without much impetus. Played behind closed doors, in a legacy tournament struggling for relevance, the action on batting-friendly pitches often times fell flat.
Now set for the grand final between South Zone and Central Zone, commencing here on Thursday, the absence of key players has taken the sheen away from what should have been a grand occasion.
On account of being picked for the India ‘A’ team to face Australia ‘A’, batters N. Jagadeesan and Devdutt Padikkal will miss this outing for South Zone.
Central Zone will have to make do without pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Yash Thakur, and all-rounder Harsh Dubey. Manav Suthar, who was not part of the eleven in the semifinal against West Zone, will also be away on India ‘A’ duty.
South skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen is likely to don the wicketkeeping gloves in place of Jagadeesan. Azharuddeen, who made only 11 in the high-scoring semifinal against North Zone, stated that he was happy that Jagadeesan and Devdutt have been rewarded for their consistency.
Central Zone’s Khaleel Ahmed and Yash Thakur will be departing from the Central Zone squad.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
Central Zone’s Khaleel Ahmed and Yash Thakur will be departing from the Central Zone squad.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
“I am really happy for them, because Jaggi (Jagadeesan) has been doing really well for the last two-three years,” Azharuddeen said.
With the BCCI CoE Ground (1) yielding a total of nearly 2,300 runs in the two matches held thus far, another run feast is on the cards. Saddle up and rack up a mammoth score – this is the simple plan of action.
“We are playing with seven batters. This is an advantage because Bengaluru pitches always favours the batters. We want to keep it simple. Whether you bat first or second, we just want to put up a huge score,” Azharuddeen said.
Published on Sep 10, 2025
