Duleep Trophy final may be high scoring contest

If the happenings in the quarterfinal and semifinals of this year's Duleep Trophy championship are any indication, the five day final between traditional rivals West Zone and North Zone, commencing at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta on Friday, should be a keen contest marked by high scores.

Both the sides are strong in batting and with the kind of flat tracks prepared in domestic cricket, it will not come as a surprise if the final is another `batathon' the kind of which has become pretty common particularly in the Duleep Trophy tournament.

Both teams have the batsmen to run up tall scores and excel in the waiting game and if North Zone would seem to have the advantage, it is only because they have played an extra game. Their array of batsmen proved too strong for South Zone in the quarterfinal and again simply overwhelmed holders Central Zone in the penultimate round. But not to be outdone, West Zone, also chiefly on the strength of their batting, outplayed East Zone in the other semifinal and could well have gained a morale boosting outright victory had they enforced the follow on.

The North Zone batsmen also have the advantage of playing much more cricket than their West counterparts for they have completed all their fixtures in the Ranji Trophy league. The leading players have run into top form and carried this form into the Duleep Trophy. This can be gauged by their scores in the two matches in the competition. Rajiv Nayyar got 118 against South Zone and 88 against Central Zone. Virender Sehwag scored 274 against South Zone. The consistent Pankaj Dharmani has had a run of 59, 52 and 121 not out. Skipper Vikram Rathour has had scores of 93 and 70. The other opening batsman Ashu Dani has got a half century and another top order batsman RS Sodhi has got 88. North Zone's immense batting depth is best illustrated by the fact that Nikhil Chopra at No 8 got 132 in the semifinal and added 145 runs for the ninth wicket with Shakti Singh, who himself scored 50.

The much vaunted West Zone batting line up lived upto its reputation and took little time in running up big scores against East Zone. One of the two major highlights was the form displayed by their opening batsmen Wasim Jaffar and Cecil Williams. While Jaffar got 69 and 94, Williams scored 107 and 41 and the two shared partnerships of 156 and 71. The other major highlight was the form shown by Vinod Kambli. Always a player to be feared around the domestic circuit, the 27-year-old former India left hander proved his class in unmistakable terms by hitting 154. Skipper Amol Majumdar with 90 and AV Kale with 105 also got runs so West Zone obviously have the batsmen to match North Zone in running up big scores and playing long innings - an ideal qualification for a five day game on a batting pitch.

The bowling line up on both sides looks pretty thin. North's Robin Singh took five wickets in an innings against Central Zone but generally it's been tough going for the bowlers. Besides Robin Singh, North Zone have Shakti Singh, Nikhil Chopra and Navdeep Singh while the main bowlers for West Zone are Mhambrey, Siddiqui and Nilesh Kulkarni. Ironically, a bowler could have the final say for with the sides evenly matched in batting, a single good bowling performance could well turn out to a match winning one.