Even contest between well-matched teams

With most of the nation's attention trained on Durban, where India were taking on South Africa, and some of the capital's populace watching the Durand Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium, the atmosphere was distinctly low-key as Tamil Nadu and Delhi went through their paces on the eve of their first Ranji Trophy match of the season.

Tamil Nadu were the first to arrive for practice at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium, even before the temporary nets were erected, but Delhi stayed the longest, rounding off an exhaustive nets session with a team-meeting that that lasted almost an hour.

There was hope that interest levels would increase because of live television coverage for Ranji matches but it might take a few games yet before the action heats up. Yet this match, between two big teams, could provide the perfect start; Tamil Nadu beat Delhi when they last played at the Kotla three years ago but at present the two teams are evenly matched.

Tamil Nadu's strength lies in their medium-pacers, backed up by a settled middle-order. Vijaykumar Yomahesh, fast making a name for himself, is well supported by Rajamani Jesuraj and R Naresh. The big question, however, is over Lakshmipathy Balaji's fitness, and there were no clear answers today. He bowled in the nets with no obvious discomfort but nowhere near full pace, and it seemed unlikely that he would risk playing before he returned to something approaching full fitness.

Though there's plenty of experience in the middle-order, where veterans Hemang Badani and S Sharath form the backbone, Tamil Nadu will seek to rectify one area of their game that's been a problem of late - the opening combination. They are ready to hand M Vijay his Ranji debut, and he will bat alongside S Vidyut. "Vijay is going to open for us. He has scored a tremendous amount of runs in the league in Chennai and has earned his place in the side," said S Badrinath, the Tamil Nadu captain. "He's a technically sound player, so once he gets set he's someone who can make big scores."

The other sure debutant is Vikram Mani, the wicketkeeper-batsman. Ashish Kapoor is likely to be the lone spinner in the attack, unless Tamil Nadu take the plunge and give C Suresh, the left-arm spinner, his first cap.

Delhi too are fairly well set. Their batting order is well defined, with Virat Kohli set to make his debut. Mithun Manhas, their captain, said a final decision on the team composition would only be taken after a closer examination of the wicket. It remains to be seen whether they will go with an extra spinner in Rahul Sanghvi or with Kunal Lal, the left-arm seamer and son of former allrounder Madan Lal. "Our strength is a combination of good batting and fast bowling," said Manhas, almost echoing the line from the Tamil Nadu camp.

Indications are that Sanghvi will get the nod, given that the match pitch looks like it will crumble as the game progresses. Ishant Sharma, the young right-arm mediumpacer, is also ready to make his debut and Chaitanya Nanda, the legspinner who had a highly successful Ranji campaign last season, a certainty to play.

The other area of interest is the possibility of an India recall for discarded players like Gautam Gambhir, Aakash Chopra and Ashish Nehra. There's a chance India will look to pick a third opener for the Test series in South Africa. Gambhir and Chopra, fresh from putting on 188 in the Duleep Trophy final, will want to catch the eye of the chairman of selectors, Dilip Vengsarkar, who is due to be at the Kotla watching this match. Nehra, on the comeback trail, can take heart from Zaheer Khan's return to India colours. However, he will have to perform consistently in domestic cricket to force his way back.

Tamil Nadu (likely) 1 S Vidyut, 2 M Vijay, 3 S Badrinath (capt), 4 S Sharath, 5 Hemang Badani, 6 R Sathish, 7 Vikram Mani (wk), 8 Aashish Kapoor, 9 V Yomahesh, 10 R Jesuraj, 11 C Suresh / R Naresh.

Delhi 1 Aakash Chopra, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 Mithun Manhas, 5 Virat Kohli, 6 Rajat Bhatia, 7 Vijay Dahiya, 8 Chaitanya Nanda, 9 Rahul Sanghvi/Kunal Lal, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Ashish Nehra.