Keen contest likely in Wills Trophy Final

A battle royal is on the cards when Board President's XI and Karnataka battle it out for the Wills Trophy in the one day limited overs final to be played at Vizag on Monday.

For one thing, the teams are evenly matched. Secondly, in both the games they have played in the competition so far, both the contestants have displayed splendid form, enough to indicate that they are peaking for the big game.

Board President's XI defeated Mumbai in a high scoring quarterfinal by 28 runs, and then beat back an unexpectedly stiff challenge from Bengal to win by six runs. Karnataka did well in getting the better of a strong Wills XI by two wickets and then were perhaps a bit lucky in winning the toss after their high scoring semifinal against holders Madhya Pradesh ended in a tie.

Both teams are strong in batting and bowling. Board President's XI opener SS Das carried his for 133 in the quarterfinal and will be keen to make up for his failure in the semfinal. The other opener Jyoti Yadav is in form, evidence of this being his 45 and 52 in the two matches in the tournament so far. Skipper Azharuddin made a bright 24 in the first match and then showed glimpses of his class while scoring 56 in the semifinal. Sanjay Bangar has been a tower of strength in the middle order with timely knocks of 38 and 51 not out. Also with players like S Sriram, S Sarath, V Dayiha and Aashish Kapoor around, the Board President's XI have a lot of depth in their batting.

Compared to the batting, the bowling is less formidable. But it must not to be forgotten that seamers T Kumaran (in the quarterfinal) and J Gokulakrishnan (in the semifinal) have got five wicket hauls. Left arm spinner Karthik Murali has also been among the wickets.

Karnataka's batting will revolve around the in form opener J Arun Kumar. Following his excellent record in the Ranji Trophy and his good showing with the Indian A team in the West Indies, Arun Kumar has got 41 and 71 in the two matches in the Wills Trophy. But runs can also be expected from VST Naidu, S Shiraguppi, Mithun Beerala and skipper Sujith Somasundar.

Karnataka's bowling strength is in the hands of their seam trio of Mansur Ali Khan, Dodda Ganesh and David Johnson. But if spin is required, it will be comforting for Karnataka to know that they have Yalvigi, Akhil and Anand Katti in their ranks.