Experience gives South the edge

Defending champions North Zone will start as underdogs against a star-studded South Zone line-up in their Duleep Trophy semi-final in Rajkot. With Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma away on national duty in Sri Lanka, North's hopes hinge on the likes of Aakash Chopra, Virat Kohli and current Test legspinner Amit Mishra. Rahul Dravid is the biggest name in the South line-up, which also boasts of recent internationals such as Sreesanth, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik and S Badrinath.

"South has a better side on paper than us, but our players are looking forward to doing well in the match," Chopra, the North captain, told PTI. Those picked for the match, he pointed out, have done well in the Ranji Trophy, including the best performers in the Plate League - Himachal Pradesh batsman Sangram Singh and medium-pacer Vikramjeet Malik.

Chopra is hoping that Mishra, who made his debut during the India-Australia Tests, makes a mark on the game. "Mishra had been in the national side and done well."

South, who beat Central Zone to make it the semi-final, will be without VVS Laxman, who has been advised to rest after injuring his ankle in that game. Even without him, South have an impressive batting line-up. Dinesh Karthik raked up two centuries in the quarter-final and with India likely to take a back-up for Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the New Zealand Tests, he could seal the spot with a steady performance behind the stumps.

Dravid would also look to build on his second-innings century in the last game, while S Badrinath will look to keep his place in India's Test squad with a good outing to make up for his 13 and 0 against Central. Badrinath will lead the team as well, and was confident the team would cope despite Laxman's absence.

Badrinath said the Madhavrao Scindia Ground had been lucky in the past for him, and is hoping to continue the good run. "I have scored runs and taken wickets in various first-class matches played here, so the ground is lucky for me but it is up to the players to play good cricket."

South's attack - who have the advantage of having played a quarter-final with the Kookabura ball - will be led by Sreesanth and L Balaji, with legspining allrounder M Suresh - who took 6 for 84 in the second innings against Central - and R Ashwin the slow-bowling options. Sreesanth was both enthralling and disappointing in the previous game, and surely needs a strong performance to build his claims for a spot on the touring party for New Zealand.

Squads
South Zone: S Badrinath (capt), Abhinav Mukund, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik (wk), R Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, L Balaji, Sreesanth, Vinay Kumar, Saurav Bandekar, M Suresh, Anoop Pai

North Zone: Aakash Chopra (capt), Amit Mishra, Shikhar Dhawan, Sangram Singh, Sunny Sohal, R Dewan, Ankur Kakkar, Uday Kaul, Sarandeep Singh, Manpreet Gony, Vikramjeet Malik, Parvinder Awana, Rajat Bhatia, Samiullah Beigh