The fact that Central Zone are the holders should not stop North Zone from being installed as favourites on the eve of their five day Duleep Trophy semifinal to be played at Guwahati from tomorrow.

The manner in which their bowlers and batsmen performed while getting the better of South Zone in the quarter-final at Agartala augurs well for North Zone. Also the fact that most of the batsmen have run into top form in the Ranji Trophy matches is an encouraging sign. Having played most number of games in the national competition - the North Zone league is the only one among the five in which all matches have been completed - the batsman and bowlers have been well and truly match hardened.

Against South Zone, Virendra Shewag got a brilliant 274, Rajiv Nayyar a patient 118 and the two added a record 381 runs for the fifth wicket. Also in the side are Ashu Dani, V Dahiya, P. Dharmani, Mithun Manhas and skipper Vikram Rathour. All of them are capable of big scores. In bowling, they have in former India opening bowler Ashish Nehra a performer capable of making early inroads, as he proved against South Zone. They also have in form bowlers like Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Nikhil Chopra and Navdeep Singh and a capable all rounder in Shakthi Singh.

Against this line up the Central Zone side does not inspire much confidence. The team is led by Gyanendra Pandey and the India probable is one of the stars. Opening batsmen Jai Yadav and Manoj Mudgal as also Sanjay Bangar have got big scores. Their main bowlers are expected to be PV Gandhe, PK Krishnakumar, AW Zaidi and M Majithia, who have all been among the wickets.

The other semifinal between West Zone and East Zone at Calcutta should be a keenly contested encounter. West Zone are led by Amol Muzumdar and the side includes Vinod Kambli, AV Kale, NK Patel, Z Khan, Nilesh Kulkarni, Wasim Jaffer, Paras Mhambrey and IR Siddiqui. It seems a well balanced side. But they are pitted against an East Zone side which should relish playing at the Eden Gardens. Led by Bengal's U Chatterjee, the side includes his state colleagues Rohan Gavaskar, Nikhil Haldipur, Syed Saba Karim and WP Majumder. SS Das and S Satpathy of Orissa are the in form players. But both the West Zone and East Zone players have not had many matches in their respective zones with some states having played just one game.

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