Oct 25: The leading domestic limited overs tournament of the country Challenger Trophy is all set to begin today with the focus on upcoming players and Team India discards, who get an opportunity to stake their claim for the national side.
India Blue will clash with India Red in the series opener at the Sardar Patel stadium in Motera later in the day.
Ironically the tournament was started with an aim to provide testing platform for the fringe players of the country to show their mettle, playing alongside and against the international cricketers and stars of the country, who could not be able to play much of domestic cricket due to packed international calendar.
But this time around the trinity of Indian cricket Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid along with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, RP Singh and Murali Kartik would be missing the action, as the selectors decided to give them a rest in view of the hectic schedule ahead of Indian team.
But their absence will surely take some sheen off the country’s premier one-day tournament but on the other side every player who is taking the field would look at it as an opportunity to catch Team India bus, as the eye of the selection committee Chairman Dilip Vengsarkar alongwith other members would be keenly watching them.
There will be a chance to impress selectors before the announcement of Indian squad for the home series against Pakistan.
For India Blue swashbuckling Sehwag will be on the radar, who is going through a rough patch for quite some time. He was last seen in action in One-day internationals for Asia XI against Africa XI in the Afro-Asia Cup in Chennai in January, where he scored just 8.
Even in the recent Twenty20 international against Australia played in Mumbai, Sehwag just made five. The platform is just right for him to get back his form and catch the eyes of selectors for the ODI series against Pakistan starting next month.
India Red skipper Mohd. Kaif will also be looking to flourish with his willow during the series to stage his comeback. Kaif has been out of the Indian one-day squad since November last year, when he made just 10 runs in an ODI match against South Africa at Port Elizabeth.
Other India Red players including left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir, S Badrinath and pacer Ishant Sharma, who recently represented India, will try to cement their places in the national side.
Then there are the likes of Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Piyush Chawla and Munaf Patel who were forced out by injuries and would have to prove to the selectors that they are fit again and raring to go. The selectors would keep a close watch on Munaf’s performance given the controversies looming over his fitness levels.
Other players from the India Blue team including wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik, all-rounder Joginder Sharma, off-spinner Ramesh Powar and Bengal paceman Ranadeb Bose will also be keen to put up impressive performances.
India Green, the third team in the tournament led by wicketkeeper batsman Parthiv Patel will play their first match on October 26.
Promising youngsters in this squad like opener Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Abhishek Nayar, Iqbal Abdullah will be also be watched keenly.
According to Dhiraj Parsana, member, Pitch and Grounds Committee, “It will be a good pitch for a one-day match. There will be good carry,” however, he did not rule out the dew factor, which will be a crucial factor that comes into play in a day-night encounter.
Teams
India Blue: Virender Sehwag (capt.), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Niraj Patel, Arjun Yadav, Joginder Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Amit Mishra, Yomahesh, Ranadeb Bose, Swapnil Asnodkar, Rakesh Dhruv, Saurav Bandekar. Coach: Praveen Amre.
India Red: Mohd. Kaif (capt.), Karan Goel, Gautam Gambhir, S. Badrinath, Virat Kohli, Ravneet Ricky, Praveen Kumar, Mahesh Rawat, Pragyan Ojha, Siddarth Trivedi, Ishant Sharma, Pinal Shah, Srikant Munde, Paresh Patel. Coach: Vijay Patel
India Green: Parthiv Patel (capt.), Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Niranjan Behra, Iqbal Abdullah, Pankaj Singh, Munaf Patel, Gagandeep Singh, Anirudha Srikkanth, Satyajeet Satbhai. Coach: Lalchand Rajput.
Schedule: Oct. 25: India Red vs. India Blue; Oct. 26: India Green vs. India Red; Oct. 27: India Blue vs. India Green; Oct. 28: Final.
Umpires: A.V. Jayaprakash, Avdhoot Gokhale, S.D. Ranade and Sameer Bandekar. Match Referee: B. Raghunath.
Hours of play: 2.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 6.45 p.m. onwards to till the end of the match.
|
|
Comments:
