Amit Mishra is banking on support from his zonal teammates after being named North Zone skipper for the Duleep Trophy cricket semifinals against defending champion West Zone.
Thrust into the captaincy hot seat, the leg-spinner is expected to do more than shoulder the visitor's bowling attack over four days at Motibaug cricket ground.
The leg-spinner will team up with Vikas Mishra in the spin department, hoping that hard-working medium-pacers Sumit Narwal, Joginder Sharma and Pawan Suyal do enough to exert pressure on a West Zone batting line-up, formidable despite the absence of India players Rohit Sharma and Parthiv Patel from the original squad announced for the four-day tie.
West captain Wasim Jaffer, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane place a high premium on their wicket and relish grinding the bowling attack to dust.
Jaffer upbeat
Jaffer led West to victory in the Duleep Trophy last year and is upbeat about his team's ability to play competitive cricket. “Last year was a fantastic experience. Yusuf Pathan's knock in the final (210 off 190 balls against South Zone) was special.”
Pathan's absence at the Motibaug, his home ground, will be felt, but Jaffer, Pujara and Rahane have the patience and strokes to take apart attacks in less brutal ways. Harshad Khadiwale and Pinal Shah can be effective at the crease in supporting roles.
West also has in Murtuza Vahora, Jaidev Unadkat and Ravindra Jadeja bowlers familiar with the Motibaug track, apart from wicketkeeper Pinal to advise captain Jaffer.
Faced with such a formidable opposition, Mishra will be hoping for runs from experienced batsmen Mithun Manhas and Shikhar Dhawan at the top of the North batting order, so that he can wear down West's resistance over long spells.
Last year when these two sides met in the Duleep semifinalss at Rajkot, West had piled up 769 in a drawn game, boosted by 259 from Abhishek Nayar and 109 from Ramesh Powar to advance on the basis of first-innings lead.
Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan shared five wickets between them as North was bowled out for 294.
All the four players are absent from the present squad for various reasons, leaving captain Jaffer to work out winning ways with a new group.
The teams (from):
North Zone: Amit Mishra (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mithun Manhas, Uday Kaul (wk), Yashpal Singh, Paras Dogra, Joginder Sharma, Sarul Kanwar, Mandeep Singh, Sumit Narwal, Pawan Suyal, Vikas Mishra, Rishi Dhawan, Nitin Saini (wk), Suraj Yadav.
West Zone: Wasim Jaffer (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Pinal Shah (wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Shrikant Munde, Jaidev Unadkat, Samad Fallah, Bhargav Bhatt, Ravindra Jadeja, Murtuza Vahora, Sahil Kukreja, Kedar Devdhar, Harshad Khadivale, Sangram Atitkar.
Umpires: Shahvir Tarapore, Subrata Das. Match Referee: B. Kalyansunderam.
