Duleep Trophy semifinals: All eyes on Shreyas Iyer as batter eyes redemption after Asia Cup snub

Bengaluru: Most discussions on the Asia Cup squad that was announced last month centred on one player who didn’t figure in the list of 20 (including five reserves) — Shreyas Iyer.The prolific batsman has more experience, expertise and adaptability than many picked for the tournament in Dubai, but he doesn’t figure in the think-tank's T20 scheme of things. Iyer himself has maintained a studious silence.But the spotlight will be firmly on him when he steps onto the field for West Zone against Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy semifinal starting here Thursday.With a limited-overs and Test series against West Indies and South Africa and the ODI and T20 series against Australia looming, the 30-year-old has plenty to play for.Away from Iyer, the West Zone has a star-studded lineup with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who blew hot and cold in England — he had two centuries, an equal number of 50s and several low scores in 10 innings — will look to get some red-ball gametime under his belt.Their skipper Shardul Thakur will look to course correct after mediocre returns in the two Tests he featured in England. Other prominent players include Tanush Kotian, Tushar Deshpande and Ruturaj Gaikwad.Central won’t be easy meat for the batting-dominant West Zone. While West is well-rested, Central were stretched in the second inning by NorthEast Zone in the quarterfinal. Danish Melewar struck a fluent double ton, while Rajat Patidar and Shubam Sharma were other centurions. Patidar, who is leading the side in the absence of Jurel, scored 125 and 66 in the previous outing and will again play a pivotal role for Central.Their main bowlers —Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar, will look to get among wickets.There has been a spate of injury concerns with Central Zone’s Dhruv Jurel, Vyshak Vijaykumar from South and Sarfaraz Khan from West Zone being among the prominent players who will sit out of the semifinals. They have been replaced by Akshay Wadkar, V Koushik and Shivalik Sharma respectively.In the other last-4 contest, South takes on North Zone with both sides having to chop and change their squad due to injuries and non-availability of players.Unlike in previous years, when there was a strong presence of players from the dominant states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, this edition focuses on players from Kerala. In the absence of Asia Cup-bound Tilak Varma, South are led by Mohammed Azharuddeen, who marshalled Kerala into a historic Ranji Trophy finale appearance last season.South has a smattering of youngsters with some older workhorses in the mix.North, on the other hand, will be without pacers Arshdeep Rana and Harshit Rana, making it an even contest. Having said that, North will have the edge, considering they played the quarterfinals match at the same ground at the new BCCI Centre of Excellence facility.