Duleep Trophy Final: India ‘A’ Selection Audition

CHENNAI: India ‘A’ will play five ‘Test’ matches against the Aussies at home and New Zealand away over the next two months. The Duleep Trophy final between the East and South zones here from Sunday is an audition and the national selectors, including chairman Ajit Agarkar, will be in Chennai to check the performances of the aspirants.BCCI also wanted to add some star quotient to the marquee home match where KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal and Mohammed Siraj were asked to join the South sq-uad. While Padikkal and Siraj will play the game, Rahul has become unavailable. Padikkal is coming off the back of a great series in Sri Lanka and South captain Tilak Varma confirmed after practice on Saturday that the left-hander will bat at No.3.“Padikkal will strengthen our batting line-up especially with the form we have seen from him in the last few matches. He has done really well so that will be a big boost for us,” said Tilak.The final carries huge historical weight for East Zone, who have made it to the title game after 14 years. Coincidentally, their last finals appearance was also in Chennai, a match they won. This fixture also marks the return of red-ball cricket to the MA Chidambaram Stadium after two years.“Yes, after 14 years. I wasn’t part of each and every year but this year I am part of East Zone and we are in the final…We played as a unit and took care of each other,” East Zone captain Ishan Kishan said. There is a lot of hype surrounding 15-year-old batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who scored a decisive 92 in the semi-final against Central Zone.