South Zone face Central Zone in Duleep Trophy 2025 final on September 11
Youngsters like Ravichandran Smaran and Danish Malewar will vie for national spots in Bengaluru
Central Zone's Rajat Patidar misses final for India 'A' duty
South Zone will face Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy 2025 final at the BCCI Centre of Excellence grounds in Bengaluru on Thursday, September 11. Young prospects Ravichandran Smaran and Danish Malewar will seek to impress national selectors amid the absence of several stars, including Central skipper Rajat Patidar, on India 'A' duty against Australia 'A'.
Several young talents aim for selector consideration, led by Ravichandran Smaran and Danish Malewar. Andre Siddarth also ranks among the hopefuls. Their performances could secure future India 'A' assignments and position them for a potential call-up for the national team.
Smaran, 22, a left-handed batter, has been highly impressive. Across seven first-class appearances for Karnataka, he scored 516 runs at an average of 64.50, including two centuries. His List 'A' record shows 433 runs from 10 matches at 72.16, and he holds a strike-rate of 170 in six T20s. These numbers underline his all-format prowess; he certainly aims to build on it before the national selectors at the BCCI Centre of Excellence grounds.
Danish Malewar, 21, made an early impact in the Duleep Trophy, scoring 203 in the quarter-finals and 76 in the semi-finals. This Vidarbha batter has so far accumulated 1,077 runs from just 11 first-class matches, averaging 59 with three hundreds.
Andre Siddarth, 19, from Tamil Nadu, completed his debut first-class season (2024-25) with 612 runs, averaging 68. These first-season wonders are keen to build on their early success in the upcoming domestic season. This final provides an excellent launching pad for them.
South Zone Vs Central Zone: Bowling Units And Key Absences
While the batting line-ups feature many hopefuls, the bowling contingents largely comprise seasoned domestic players. At 33, India pacer Deepak Chahar, representing Central Zone, faces limited time. He needs to make this outing count by taking significant wickets.
In this Duleep Trophy, Chahar has bowled 29 overs across two matches for two wickets, and he will look for an improvement. Central Zone will miss spinner Harsh Dubey, along with pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Yash Thakur, as the trio joined the India 'A' camp in Lucknow.
South Zone also faces absences, with batters Devdutt Padikkal and Narayan Jagadeesan unavailable due to their excellent performances over the last "two-three years", captain Mohammed Azharuddeen said.
"We are playing with seven batters actually, so it's always an advantage because Bangalore wickets are always favouring the batters," Azharuddeen said. "So, we are keeping things very simple. If you are batting either first or second, we just want to put up a huge score."
South Zone Vs Central Zone: Full Squads
Central Zone: Rajat Patidar (c), Ayush Pandey, Danish Malewar, Shubham Sharma, Sanchit Desai, Yash Rathod, Nachiket Bhute, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Aditya Thakare, Upendra Yadav (wk), Ajay Singh Kukna, Akshay Wadkar (wk), Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, Saransh Jain.
South Zone: Mohammed Azharuddeen (c & wk), Ricky Bhui (v-c), Ravichandran Smaran, Kale M, Sheikh Rasheed, Tanmay Agarwal, Salman Nizar, Andre Siddarth, Tanay Thyagarajan, Gurjapneet Singh, MD Nidheesh, Vasuki Koushik, Ankit Sharma, T Vijay, Basil NP.
Stand-bys: Mohit Redkar, Snehal Kautankar, Eden Apple Tom, Ajay Rohera, G Anikeeth Reddy.
(With PTI Inputs)
