Ranji Trophy: Decisive last round begins Tuesday

NEW DELHI - The battle for quarterfinal places in the Ranji Trophy Super League has become fierce as the teams gear up for their last group matches, beginning Tuesday.

So far only three teams are assured of a berth in the knockout stage. Tamil Nadu with 23 points from Group A and Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh with 23 and 18 points from Group B. That means the outcome of the last league games will throw up the remaining three teams while the other teams will be the finalists from the Plate division.

While Punjab, Mumbai and Railways will fight it out for the two places from Group A, Delhi and Baroda will be vying for the third team’s slot from Group B.

Both Mumbai and Punjab have 16 points from their six matches but the latter are placed in second place on a better run-rate.

However, 38 times champions Mumbai are better placed as they play a weaker Gujarat at home. Also, the result of Punjab-Railways match will be closely followed. Railways with 13 points are still in fray and will have the advantage of playing on home turf.

Railways need to win this home tie to be in contention for the last eight stage. Punjab just need a draw, even if they concede first-innings lead, to make the grade.

Railways captain Murli Karthik is confident of his team’s performance.

“We have played good cricket this season. There have been moments when we should have nailed our opposition. It is just that we were unlucky that our two matches against Orissa and Himachal Pradesh could not be completed because of bad weather and we had to share points. That really cost us,” Karthik said.

“We are determined to put up a good performance against Punjab.”

In Group B, Delhi, buoyed by two back-to-back home wins will be playing Bengal away. With 15 points, Delhi need just the first innings lead from a drawn game to be through. Baroda, with 10 points, will require an outright win with a bonus point against bottom-placed Maharashtra at Pune and also hope that Delhi lose the match.

Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya said they are taking the confidence from their last two wins into the match against Bengal.

“We are looking forward to the tie. We had full six points from our last game and we are confident of pulling this one too. We respect our opposition but in the end the game revolves around us,” Dahiya told IANS.

“At the beginning of the season, we did not have a full side. We wanted the youngsters to take the responsibilty and they have done that. It is a good batting track and we are hopeful of a good showing.”

Meanwhile, the young and inexperienced Maharashtra, with four points, will be fighting to save themselves from being relegated. Even a first innings lead will only put them on a par with Suarashtra, who, with seven points, play table-toppers Karnataka at Rajkot. In home conditions, Saurashatra would be happy to salvage a draw to avert relegation.

Maharashtra coach Shaun Williams says his team is young and is fast learning the ropes.

“If one looks at our performance, it has swung between good and bad. We need to be consistent and the team is aware of that. They are a young team with a lot of pride. We have learnt a lot from each game, taking small steps to improve,” Williams said.

In Group A, Hyderabad, with six points, are most likely to be demoted to the plate division. The fact they play Tamil Nadu at home offers little hope. Orissa, placed second from the bottom, and with nine points, have Himachal Pradesh and nippy weather at Dharamsala to face in the next match.

From the plate division, Assam play Andhra at Guwahati in the semifinals and Haryana take on Tripura at Rohtak. The two teams reaching the final will make the Super League next year.

Among the batsmen, India wicketkeeper and Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel is the leading run-getter with 578 runs from his 10 innings from six matches. But Patel can soon be displaced by the second placed Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer as Gujarat are already out of the race. Jaffer has 546 runs from his seven innings in six matches. Parvinder Singh of Uttar Pradesh is in third place with 502 runs from his 10 innings in six matches.

India discard, all-rounder Irfan Pathan, is at the 18th position in the batting list. He has scored 373 runs for Baroda from his eight innings in four matches with a highest score of 81. He has taken 15 wickets from his 90.4 overs in four matches.

With 441 runs from seven innings in five matches, Tamil Nadu’s Dinesh Karthik, who is still struggling for a regular place in Indian team, is tenth on the list.

Karnataka’s R. Vinay Kumar, who took his career-best figures of eight for 32 against Delhi this season, is the highest wicket taker with 33 wickets from 193.5 overs from five matches. Punjab’s Love Ablish is close on heels with 32 wickets from 204.5 overs in six matches.

Himachal Pradesh’s Vikramjeet Malik is third with 31 wickets from his 226.5 overs in six matches.

Promising India leg-spinner Piyush Chawla with 24 wickets from 178.4 overs in five matches is in seventh place while R.P Singh has 17 wickets from 227.5 overs in six matches.