Duleep Trophy: Pujara, Shaw, Sarfaraz, SKY in focus

Redemption will be the central theme when a clutch of cricketers from the West Zone, including Cheteshwar Pujara and Prithvi Shaw, enter the field for the Duleep Trophy semi-final against Central Zone, starting in Bengaluru, from Wednesday.

For the crucial clash, West Zone will boast of a power-packed batting line-up in Pujara, Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav and Sarfaraz Khan, with all four batters looking for a career reboot.

Pujara, a veteran of 103 Tests and over 7000 runs, has scripted tales of valour over the years. But now he finds himself out of reckoning for India.

He was dropped from India's squad for the tour of West Indies after a modest outing during the World Test Championship final against Australia last month. He will be eager to make a statement of intent during the Duleep Trophy.

Rewind to the cryptic tweet of him batting that was shared on his timeline soon after he was omitted from the Test squad. It is imperative then for him to be among runs because India will not be playing a Test series until later this year post their West Indies assignment.

Shaw and Sarfaraz also fall under that redemption line, but there is a subtle subtext to it. Reasons more than cricket have contributed to them remaining outside the India tent.

Shaw is a precocious talent, of that there is no doubt. After all, not many batters have made centuries on debut in Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and in Test cricket.

He had also led India to an ICC Under-19 World Cup victory in 2018. But after those heady days, the 23-year-old has played only five Tests, six ODIs and one T20I in the last five years.

Despite a 379 off 383 balls against Assam in the Ranji Trophy early this January, Shaw has fallen down the Indian pecking order. His indiscipline off the field has often come under the scanner.

He has recently signed a contract with Northamptonshire and will be aiming to drift back into the selectors' eye level with a good stint in English county cricket and in the Duleep Trophy.  

Sarfaraz is a sailor in the same boat. He has envious numbers too in the domestic circuit. He remains one of those few batsmen to have scored over 900 runs in two successive seasons
(2020-21, 2021-22). The 25-year-old's average in first class cricket is a shade over 79, second only to Sir Don Bradman.

Even in the previous domestic season, he amassed runs at an average of 92.66. His non-selection in the India squad for the Windies trip was a prime-time debate subject.

But the word is that his off-field behaviour and sub-par fitness level had closed the door on him, at least for now.

Perhaps, another big outing here might help him finally crack the India code.

Suryakumar, on the other hand, is an integral part of India's white ball squads. But the Mumbaikar has not been able to replicate that success in the longer format.

His Test career, which began against Australia at Nagpur in February, has failed to move from the starting point. A substantial outing in the Duleep Trophy will be a boost to his desire to be regarded as an all-format batter.

That is the larger picture. They may be fulminating in varying density inside against their non-selection. But if they can glue together their personal motives with that of the team then the next four days could be riveting.

Teams:

Central Zone: Shivam Mavi (captain), Upendra Yadav (w/k), Vivek Singh, Himanshu Mantri, Kunal Chandela, Shubham Sharma, Amandeep Khare, Rinku Singh, Akshay Wadkar, Dhruv Jurel, Saurabh Kumar, Manav Sathar, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan, Yash Thakur.

West Zone: Priyank Panchal (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sruyakumar Yadav, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harvik Desai (w/k), Prithvi Shaw, Het Patel (w/k), Sarfaraz Khan, Arpit Vasavada, Atit Seth, Shams Mulani, Yuvraj Dodiya, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya, Chintan Gaja, Arzan Nagwaswalla.

Focus on Washington fitness as South take on North

Washington Sundar will be itching to prove his long form fitness level after a gap of nearly six months as he takes to the field for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy semi-final against North Zone, starting in Bengaluru, on Wednesday.

While North demolished North East Zone by 511 runs in quarter-final, the South gained direct entry into the last-eight stage based on their performance in the previous edition.

The match will be important for some of the current and future India hopefuls and Washington is the most notable among them.

The 23-year-old lanky Tamil Nadu all-rounder, considered one of the most talented players on the circuit, has had multiple injury and fitness related issues over the past six years, restricting his international appearances to only 55 matches -- 4 Tests, 16 ODIs and 35 T20Is.

His most recent injury was a hamstring tear suffered during the first half of IPL 2023 and he made a comeback in the Tamil Nadu Premier League after that.

However, come Wednesday, Washington would like to gauge on how his body is holding up while playing four-day cricket.

The question is will he be able to bowl 25 overs in an innings or bat for a day in order to prove that he is ready to be reconsidered for the national team, with multiple ODIs and T20Is lined up after the West Indies tour.

In white ball cricket, India are still searching for a quality off-spinner and Washington was supposed to be the answer before a spate of injuries derailed him.

Three national selectors are currently in Bengaluru (Salil Ankola is supposed to track the national team in the West Indies) for the two semi-finals and they will certainly watch the off-spinner and the left-handed batter's performance and fitness with lot of interest.

The other name that would generate a lot of interest is left-handed batter Sai Sudharshan, whose silken strokes during the IPL had caught the imagination of the fans and is being considered a serious future India prospect.

In the North Zone side, there are battle-hardened veterans such as Dhruv Shorey and Jayant Yadav but two youngsters who would be closely watched are Punjab batter Prabhsimran Singh and Delhi's pace-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana, who made a hundred on his Duleep Trophy debut.

The match against a weak North East side hardly served as a pointer to how the Chinnaswamy track behaved but a battle between two sides, stacked up with quality domestic talent, will provide a better idea of the conditions.