CUTTACK: Emerging and fringe Indian players will battle it out to impress the national selectors as Yuvraj Singh-led India Blue take on S Badrinath's India Red in the opener of the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy today.

The tournament, which sets the ball rolling for the gruelling Ranji Trophy season ahead, would be more than the competition between the teams as individuals would be vying to make the Team India cut.

For Test-discard Yuvraj, a regular in India's one-day scheme of things, the two matches against India Red and India Green before the final on Sunday will provide another chance to prove that he has overcome his poor run of batting failures in the Sri Lanka series where he had just managed 72 runs from his five outings.

With the squads for the remaining two Tests against Australia remaining unchanged, most players here will be battling for a place in the squad for the seven ODIs against England after the Australia series.

Beside Yuvraj, India Blue's batting boasts of the mercurial trio of Robin Uthappa and Virat Kohli. With Irfan Pathan a doubtful starter having pulled up a calf muscle in a recent practice, Blue will have to recharge their pace battery with Ashok Dinda and Pradeep Sangwan at the helm.

Redemption chance

A hit in the domestic circuit, Tamil Nadu skipper Badrinath did not have very good international memories having played three matches, averaging 19.50 but he will get another chance to impress the selectors.

With the explosive batsmen Rohit Sharma and Manoj Tiwary in his side and leg spinner Piyush Chawla and off-spinner Mohnish Parmar offering variety to the pace attack likely to be led by comeback man Laxmipathy Balaji, Badrinath can hope to give the Yuvraj & Co some moments of darkness under the floodlights at the Barabati Stadium.