Central Zone vs West Zone Head to Head, Playing XI, Preview, Where to Watch on TV, Online, and Live Streaming Details

Central Zone are all set to cross swords with Ajinkya Rahane's West Zone at the SNR College Cricket Ground, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Thursday, September 15. 

As per the fixtures, Central Zone have been given direct entry into the semi-finals while the Rahane-led side are coming into the game on the back of a clinical performance against the North East Zone in their quarterfinal clash in Chennai. They were declared winners based on their first innings lead.

Pitch and Conditions

SNR College Cricket Ground has not seen much red-ball cricket of late. Hence, it is difficult to predict the nature of the surface that will be on offer for the all-important clash. The ground played hosts to nine Tamil Nadu Premier League 2022 (TNPL) matches.

While the average first innings score during the nine matches was 162, the same in the second innings turned out to be 148. Since no red-ball cricket has been played at the venue recently, both captains might look to put the opponent into bat first.

Playing Combinations for CZ vs WZ

Central Zone

Central Zone will rely heavily on their big guns in Rinku Singh, Ashok Menaria, Priyam Garg and Venkatesh Iyer. Most of its players are lacking game time in the middle and that might hurt them and cost them a potential final berth.

Predicted XI: Karan Sharma (c), Himanshu Mantri, Priyam Garg, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Shubham Sharma, Akshay Wadkar (wk), Ashok Menaria, Kumar Kartikey, Aditya Sarwatey, Ankit Rajpoot

West Zone

After being put into bat in their quarterfinal fixture against North East, West Zone amassed a mammoth total of 590/2 with the help of double centuries from opener Yashashvi Jaiswal and their captain in the first innings. Prithvi Shaw also made a significant contribution with the willow and struck a quick-fire ton. All three batters displayed red hot form and took the North East attack to the cleaners.

Right-arm medium pacer Chintan Gaja looked in his elements for West Zone as he picked up a four-fer. He was equally well supported by his fellow pacer Jaydev Unadkat, who bagged a three-wicket haul himself. The Rahane-led side will be the favourites to win the contest purely based on the form they are in right now.

Predicted XI: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Prithvi Shaw, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Het Patel (wk), Hardik Tamore, Rahul Tripathi, Shams Mulani, Chirag Jani, Jaydev Unadkat, Chintan Gaja, Atit Sheth 

CZ vs WZ Head-to-Head in Duleep Trophy

Played - 24 | CZ - 4 | WZ -15 | Draws - 5

CZ vs WZ Broadcast Details

Match Timings – September 15, 9:30 AM IST

Telecast & Live Streaming – Star Sports Network, Disney+ Hotstar