Series Thread: Zimbabwe President's XI in Deodhar Trophy

[CrimsonAvenger]

Thought of starting a thread for this much awaited series.

The fixtures:

Group A: Central Zone v North Zone - Mar 13, 2009
Group B: West Zone v South Zone - Mar 13, 2009
Group B: South Zone v Zimbabwe President's XI - Mar 14, 2009
Group A: East Zone v North Zone - Mar 14, 2009
Group B: West Zone v Zimbabwe President's XI - Mar 16, 2009
Group A: Central Zone v East Zone - Mar 16, 2009

Final: - Mar 18, 2009

Zimbabwe XI is grouped with South Zone and West Zone, which I believe are the top two teams in the fray on form. Added to this fact, they are less depleted compared to North and Central zones, which have a lot of their players on national duty. So, a difficult start right from the word go for the Zimbabweans.

Zimbabwe Prsident's XI Squad:

Prosper Utseya (capt), Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, Ray Price, Sean Williams, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Vusi Sibanda, Elton Chigumbura, Keith Dabengwa, Forster Mutizwa, Malcolm Waller, Graeme Cremer, Ed Rainford, Chris Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa.

I, for one, am expecting Chibhabha to replace Williams in the nth moment, based on zimfan1's recent revelations about his future. This is the only possibility that can explain Chibhabha's shock exclusion from both the squads.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Here is the strong South Zone squad:

S Badrinath (capt), Srikkanth Anirudha, R Ashwin, Yo Mahesh, Arun Karthik (All Tamil Nadu)
Robin Uthappa (vice-capt), KP Appanna, S Aravind (All Karnataka)
DB Ravi Teja, Arjun Yadav, Shoaib Ahmed, Anoop Pai (All Hyderabad)
Manoj Sai (Andhra)
Robin D'Souza (Goa)
P Prasanth (Kerala)

Robin Uthappa would be looking to continue his red hot domestic form to win back a place in the national team, while Badrinath will surely continue to put in strong performances. swashbuckling batsman Anirudha, son of Kris Srikkanth, off-spinning all-rounder Ashwin and young left arm spinner Appanna would be eager to impress as well.

[Detective RDS]

Indeed,it's a strong squad named by South Zone.

The captain S Badrinath is a world class player as far as his domestic record is concerned and has played 3 ODIs for India too.Was a successful player of IPL for his team Chennai Super Kings averaging over 40.But didnt get much batting to proove his class.He will be ready to make big scores to get selected for the national side.

Robin Uthappa has played 38 ODIs for Zimbabwe,little bit experienced in the international arene.But didnt do much averaging 27 in ODIs.He has a good domestic record too.Played for Mumbai Indians in the IPL averaging 25.

DB Ravi Teja is 21 and played in the IPL for Bangalore Royal Challengers.Played an aggressive innings of 40 against Chennai Super Kings in his last domestic T20 match.

Yo Mahesh is 21 and is an all rounder who has played in the IPL for Delhi Daredevils.

I guess the IPL experience will help the young players a lot.From the South Zone squad,I know about this 4 players.But I think the other players have a good domestic record and skills under their belt.

Well,Zimbabwe has to play really well to beat them.If Zimbabwe can win comprehensively over the Indian domestic sides,the question of the returning in the test arena of Zimbabwe will come our I suspect.But it's sure that this tour will help the players increasing their experience and developing their cricketing skills a lot.

[dylan]

regis chajabva has just been called up to the india tour so that might leave room for someone to go in the A side.

[Detective RDS]

regis chajabva has just been called up to the india tour so that might leave room for someone to go in the A side.

19 years old batsman Richmond Mutumbami will replace Chakabva for the Namibia tour.

[Detective RDS]

Changed squad of Zimbabwe President's XI in Deodhar Trophy:

Zimbabwe President's XI: Prosper Utseya (capt), Hamilton Masakadza (V-Capt), Foster Mutizwa (wk), Stuart Matsikenyeri, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Malcom Waller,
Elton Chigumbura, Keith Dabengwa, Regis Chakabva, Graeme Cremer, Raymond Price, Tawanda Mupariwa, Edward Rainsford, Christopher Mpofu

[brmtaylor.com admin]

CrimsonAvenger, do you know if any of the Indian providers will be broadcasting this tournament?
Edit: I've found out that Neo Sports are covering the tournament: http://www.neosports.tv/pdf/Internation ... ricket.pdf

[CrimsonAvenger]

I've found out that Neo Sports are covering the tournament:

Yes, Neo Sports have bought the rights for all domestic matches in India. But it remains to be seen whether they will be televising both matches every day or not. Even I would have to look out for streams to watch this series, as our provider has not signed up for Neo.

By the way, West Zone, Zim's other opponent have announced their squad, and by the look of it, they must be favorites to lift the title. Here is the West Zone squad:

Wasim Jaffer (capt), Parthiv Patel (vice-capt & wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhavik Thaker, Kedar Jadhav, Siddharth Trivedi, Abhishek Nayar, Rakesh Solanki, Iqbal Abdulla, Harshad Khadiwale, Murtuja Vahora, Jitendra Patil, Kamlesh Makwana

Jaffer, Pujara, Parthiv Patel and Rahane have been plundering runs in the longer version in the domestic season this year. All of them deserve a test berth, but Jaffer and Rahane cannot even dream of opening for India as long as Sehwag and Gambhir are in such fine nick. While Pujara came mighty close to replacing Dravid in the test squad to NZ, Patel must feel unlucky to have been left out in favour of Karthik.

Add Jadeja, Nayar etc. to the mix and you have got a team that simply has to lift the title. So two really strong sides to face Zim, and it is a bit unfortunate that way.

I would be expecting one win at best, for Zim, against South Zone, if they can acclimatize very well soon.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

What about radio coverage, does Indian radio tend to broadcast domestic events?

[CrimsonAvenger]

What about radio coverage, does Indian radio tend to broadcast domestic events?

They used to, a couple of years ago. Not sure about this year though.