With North Zone having won the Duleep Trophy, interest in the last round of matches, commencing on Thursday, will centre on which team takes the runner-up spot.

East Zone play West Zone at Pune while Central Zone meet South Zone at Goa and if the title has eluded these four teams, the matches are still important for the contestants. What adds spice to the flavour is the fact that the teams are closely bunched in the points tally. East Zone have 13, Central Zone 11, West Zone nine and South Zone eight. So on the face of it the teams would seem to have almost level chances of finishing second.

It is quite astonishing that West and South, who along with North were the three contenders for the title, occupy fourth and fifth spots in the points table going into the last match. But the fact remains that they were hard hit by the non participation of their star players. West Zone were without Sachin Tendulkar in all three games while Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan made sporadic appearances. For South Zone, Rahul Dravid, Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath and Robin Singh figured in only one or two matches. Of course, South Zone were also without Anil Kumble, undergoing treatment for a shoulder injury. Under the circumstances, their below par showing was not unexpected. Of course East Zone were also handicapped by Sourav Ganguly not playing a single match.

Indeed, East Zone have had a roller coaster of a ride in the tournament so far. The record reads a win over South Zone, a defeat against North and first innings points against Central. Overall however no one can deny that their performance has exceeded expectations. However despite this record, they will start as underdogs in the match against West Zone for the simple reason that Tendulkar will, at last, make an appearance. Eager for some match practice before he tackles the Australians in the coming series, the Indian batting maestro will be keen to come good and he is really one player to be feared. For besides his other gifts, he rarely fails around the domestic circuit. West Zone for their part will go all out to improve their record in this year's competition. They have been disappointing having conceded the lead in all their three games so far.

Central Zone, without any real stars in their ranks, have done reasonably well. They got the lead against West Zone and conceded the lead against East and North. South, for their part, have one last chance to redeem their reputation. A loss against East, first innings points against West and only three points against North is a record hardly in keeping with their reputation as one of the leading teams. However one doubts whether they will be at full strength again and this may prove to be a handicap. Their confidence too cannot be on a high - even if they enjoy the home advantage - following their loss to East in the previous game.

© CricInfo