PREVIEW
A little under a year ago, West Zone overcame a first-innings deficit to defeat South Zone in the final of the Duleep Trophy at Coimbatore. The two teams meet once again in the tournament’s summit clash, with South Zone keen to settle scores this time.
It will not be a straightforward task against the power-packed West batting line-up. It will take a great effort from South to subdue the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Cheteshwar Pujara, Prithvi Shaw, Priyank Panchal and Sarfaraz Khan. Pujara, back to domestic duties after being dropped from the India Test squad, came good with a typically measured 133 against Central Zone in the semifinal.
FOLLOW LIVE | West Zone vs South Zone Duleep Trophy 2023 Final score and updates
Suryakumar showed a glimpse of his destructive abilities with a 58-ball 52 in that outing.
The bowling attack is spearheaded by left-arm pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla, who picked up five wickets in the Central Zone first innings.
South entered the final on the back of a tense two-wicket win over North Zone in the semifinal held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. South captain Hanuma Vihari was pleased that the final is being held at the same venue. “The conditions here are completely different from what we faced in the final against West at Coimbatore last year. The pitch for the semifinal this year was beautiful. I hope it stays the same for the final,” Vihari said.
The South new ball pair of Vyshak Vijaykumar and Vidwath Kaverappa - both of whom recorded five-fors against North - are best suited to capitalise on the seamer-friendly conditions and will pose a stiff challenge to the loaded West top-order.
Mayank Agarwal, who made 76 and 54 in the previous match, Tilak Varma and Vihari form the core of South’s batting.
South opener Sai Sudharsan and wicketkeeper-batter Pradosh Ranjan Paul will not be available for selection, as they have been picked to compete in the The ACC Emerging Players Asia Cup.
Goa and Royal Challengers Bangalore cricketer Suyash Prabhudessai and Karnataka pacer V. Koushik have been named as their replacements.
PREDICTED 11
South Zone: Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Tilak Varma, R Samarth, Ricky Bhui, Suyash Prabhudessai Washington Sundar, R Sai Kishore, KV Sasikanth, Vidwath Kaverappa, V Vyshak
West Zone: Priyank Panchal (c), Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suryakumar Yadav, Sarfaraz Khan, Het Patel (wk), Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Atit Sheth, Chintan Gaja, Arzan Nagwaswalla, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya
LIVE STREAMING INFO
The Duleep Trophy final between West Zone and South Zone will start at 9:30 PM on Wednesday, July 12.
The live streaming of the final will be available on BCCI’s official mobile app and the bcci.tv website.
WEATHER FORECAST
The semifinals of the Duleep Trophy - in both Alur and Bengaluru - were constantly interrupted by rain and bad light. The forecast is expected to be similar during the final too.
Here are the temprature and precipitation chances for the five days of the final:
| Day | Max Temperature | Min Temperature | Precipitation Chances | Conditions |
| Day 1 - July 12 | 28° | 20° | 50% | Scattered Thunderstorms |
| Day 2 - July 13 | 27° | 20° | 80% | Scattered Thunderstorms |
| Day 3 - July 14 | 28° | 20° | 80% | Scattered Thunderstorms |
| Day 4 - July 15 | 28° | 20° | 60% | Scattered Thunderstorms |
| Day 5 - July 16 | 29° | 20° | 20% | Partly Cloudy |
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