Stars take a rest as East meets West

MUMBAI: Had leading city diabetologists been present at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday, they would have had an interesting test. To determine whether Amol Muzumdar''s and Satyajit Parab''s strokes sound sweeter than the ones emanating from the willows of Debang Gandhi and SS Das. The above players will be key men for their sides as West Zone face East in the Deodhar Trophy limited overs tournament on Sunday.
Given the fact that it''s a day game, there won''t be an opportunity to see too many stars in the sky.The situation on the ground is no different. West Zone will be without Sachin Tendulkar, Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan. East Zone will be sans Sourav Ganguly.
West Zone skipper Ajit Agarkar chose to adopt a philosophical approach to the fact that big names were missing. "We are without stars but this is a good opporuntity to become one," he said. However, he would have surely liked to have the services of the reliable Ramesh Powar who is down with jaundice.
East Zone, led by Devang Gandhi are the defending champions and are a good mix of youth and experience. In Gandhi himself, Shib Sunder Das, Rohan Gavaskar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shib Sunder Das, they boast of a side with proven performers in both forms of the game in domestic cricket. They have also played international cricket and could test West Zone.
Talking of tests, that''s what leading the side will be for Agarkar. It will be a first of sorts for him at this level. "I have experienced players around me. It''s not a worry."
What''ll be a worry though is the fact that Dhiraj Jadhav, Satyajit Parab, Vinayak Mane and Parthiv Patel are all opening bats and only two can open. "That''ll call for some head scratching," Agarkar said.
While a scratchy scalp for juggling the batting order would be needed, scratchy form is something the skipper won''t have to worry about. Agarkar himself has been in excellent run making and wicket-taking form. He scored a breezy 40 and took 6 for 18 against Gujarat in the West Zone One-day league tie at Motera earlier in the month. His batsmen namely Amol Muzumdar, Vinayak Mane, Dhiraj Jadhav and Satyajit Parab are in good nick too as are bowlers like Irfan Pathan Sr, Yusuf Pathan and left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar.
With two well-matched sides and a wicket that has always aided good strokeplay and help for bowlers prepared to bend their backs, the game could be a close affair, something East skipper Gandhi predicts. "It''ll be a cracking game," he said.
Seeing the line-ups and the form of the two sides it will take a brave man to dispute him.
Teams:
West Zone: Ajit Agarkar (Capt), Vinayak Mane, Amol Muzumdar, Satyajit Parab, Yusuf Pathan, Rajesh Pawar, Irfan Pathan (Sr), Parthiv Patel (wk), Akash Christian, Niraj Patel, Siddharth Trivedi, Dhiraj Jadhav, Ranjit Khirid, Dhruv Mohan and Jaydev Shah.
East Zone: Devang Gandhi (Capt), Rohan Gavaskar, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Sanjib Sanyal, Sourasish Lahiri, Ranadeb Bose, Shib Shankar Paul, Shiv Sundar Das, P Jayachandra, Niranjan Behera, D Mangaraj, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Shahid Khan, V Sarvanan and Manoj Singh.