VVS Laxman at the Eden on Friday

Calcutta: Like his former India captain Sourav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman will also derive motivation from the fact that performance in domestic circuit may again open for him the door of opportunity to the national side.

Having missed out on the South Africa-bound ODI squad, he will start his journey in this direction on Saturday from the ground, where he had played one of the all-time best Test innings five years ago.

Laxman, however, felt that the knock of 281 against Australia was a thing of past. And now he’s more interested to focus on the present, which is South Zone’s Duleep Trophy match against Sri Lanka A .

Both South and Sri Lanka A are on four points each and the winners would seal a berth in the final, here from November 12.

“The game against the Sri Lankans is an important one for me as well as my team. We’ve been playing as a unit and that’s the key,” Laxman said.

However, the absence of Anil Kumble (who has decided to stay away from the match to concentrate more on the ODI series in South Africa) and Lakshmipathy Balaji (suffering from back injury) has been a setback for his team.

Teams

South Zone (from): V.V.S. Laxman (captain), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Y. Venugopal Rao, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, S. Badrinath, Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Arjun Yadav, Yo Mahesh, Md Ibrahim Khaleel, Gnaneshwar Rao, Swapnil Asnodkar, C. Raghu, Kausik Reddy.

Sri Lanka A (from): Thilan Samaraweera (captain), Kaushal Silva (wk), Jehan Mubarak, Michael Vandort, Mahela Udawatte, Malintha Warnapura, Chamara Silva, Upul Chandana, Rangana Herath, Akalanka Ganegama, Dhammika Prasad, Jeevan Mendis, Tharanga Lakshitha, Ishara Amarasinghe, Kosala Kulasekara.