Close encounters of the fourth kind

The fourth and penultimate round of Ranji Super League games begin on Saturday and the suspense is virtually over. Group A and Group C seem to have their priorities sorted out but a fierce three cornered struggle for two spots is searing through Group B.

The pairings for Round 4 are Bengal v Karnataka at Calcutta and Mumbai v Rajasthan at Mumbai (Group A), Punjab v Bihar at Mohali and Railways v Hyderabad at Delhi (Group B), Orissa v Tamil Nadu at Cuttack and Saurashtra v Uttar Pradesh at Rajkot (Group C).

Delhi look set to be the most prominent of the many casualties strewn along the wayside, having gathered just 8 points in 3 games. They sit out from the current round and will be anxiously following the Bengal-Karnataka standoff in Calcutta. Both Bengal and Karnataka have 8 points from 2 games and will be looking for a win to confirm their ticket to the knockout. An outright victory for either team will help Delhi's cause but if the two split points it will be another nail in Delhi's coffin. Runaway leaders Mumbai are cocky with the confidence that flows from two away victories in a row and their opponents from Rajasthan will be feeling like lambs lined up before a slaughter house as they enter the Wankhede stadium.

Baroda are sitting smugly at the top of Group B on 18 points and will watch from the sidelines this week. But the arclights will be on the three evenly matched teams that are at present jostling for the two remaining slots. Two of them, Railways and Hyderabad, go head to head, while Punjab have the relatively easier task of negotiating the challenge of Bihar. Although they came off second best against Baroda in the fight for first innings lead, Punjab's young guns have been firing away all season and their exuberance has infected the rest of the team. Hyderabad will not have an easy task against a Railways side that has just tasted blood after toppling Bihar.

In Group C, Tamil Nadu and Orissa, both coming off victories last week, will put each other through their paces. Orissa has done well to bounce back after a reverse in their opener and boast a good all round side, inarguably the best in their history. Tamil Nadu are gearing up for a serious assault on the title this year. They have run into ominous form led by the punishing batsmanship of lefthanders, S Sriram and S Sharath who will captain the side in the absence, on national duty, of Robin Singh. In the other game second placed Uttar Pradesh will be keen to douse the fire of a dispirited Saurashtra which lost at home to Orissa last week.

With the selection of the one day side for the five match series against South Africa looming ahead, several teams face the prospect of picking a player who might have to leave midway through the match to report for the first one-dayer on March 9. Reetinder Sodhi, Sunil Joshi, Samir Dighe and Vinod Kambli are just some of the names being bandied about in this regard.