Bengaluru, Sep 3 (IANS) With changes in personnel due to international duties and injuries, South Zone and North Zone will be keen to put their best foot forward when they face-off in the Duleep Trophy semi-final at the BCCI CoE Ground on Thursday.

South Zone will feel the impact of the absence of its skipper, left-handed batter Tilak Varma, fast bowler Vysakh Vijayakumar, and left-arm spinner R. Sai Kishore. While Varma is set to play in the Asia Cup in the UAE from September 9-28, Vijayakumar and Sai Kishore are sidelined with their respective injuries.

The absence of an in-form Varma means skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen, vice-captain and wicketkeeper N. Jagadeesan, Ricky Bhui, Devdutt Padikkal, and Salman Nizar, who recently hit 11 sixes in 13 balls in the Kerala Cricket League (KCL), will have to shoulder huge responsibility to get big runs for South Zone.

North Zone too are also facing challenges with the unavailability of pacers Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, who will be travelling to play in the Asia Cup in the UAE. Seam-bowling all-rounder Anshul Kamboj, who had an unimpressive Test debut against England in Manchester, is likely to come into the playing eleven.

Apart from seam-bowling all-rounder Auqib Nabi’s heroics with the ball, featuring a five-wicket haul in the first innings, North Zone can feel confident about their batting line-up, thanks to all-rounder Ayush Badoni, captain Ankit Kumar, and top-order batter Yash Dhull scoring centuries in the quarterfinal against a hapless East Zone bowling line-up.

The last four matches promise to be an intriguing contest as both sides look to overcome their personnel changes and secure a spot in the final starting on September 11.

Squads

North Zone: Ankit Kumar (C), Shubham Khajuria, Ayush Badoni, Yash Dhull, Ankit Kalsi, Nishant Sandhu, Sahil Lotra, Mayank Dagar, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Kanhaiya Wadhawan, Shubham Rohilla, Gurnoor Brar and Anuj Thakral.

South Zone: Mohammed Azharuddeen (captain & wk), Tanmay Agarwal, Shaik Rasheed, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, N Jagadeesan (wk), T Vijay, Ankit Sharma, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vyshak Vijaykumar, MD Nidheesh, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, and Snehal Kauthankar.

–IANS

nr/bc