Indian Domestic: Super League threw up a few surprises

The Ranji Trophy championship, which started in October last year, is now into its home stretch. From the 27 teams that were in the field when the national competition commenced, only six remain in the fray. The zonal league matches are over and so is the Super League. The men have been separated from the boys and now it is up to the `Super Six' to battle it out for top honours. The two quarterfinals will be played from March 30, the semifinals are scheduled to start on April 9 while the five day final commences on April 19.

Not unexpectedly, the Super League provided some surprises and as a result, favourites Delhi, Bengal and Baroda failed to qualify for the knock out stage while less fancied sides like Hyderabad and Uttar Pradesh made it to the `Super Six'. The entry of Mumbai, reigning champions Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Punjab was, more or less, along expected lines.

And yet it did not always look like these six teams would make it. In group A, Karnataka with only eight points at the halfway stage were in some danger but a victory over Delhi in their last game saw them make the grade with 19 points. Bengal too were in a similar situation at the halfway mark but they did not have the finishing power of Karnataka - or maybe they were unfortunate to meet a rampaging Mumbai side in their final encounter.

Indeed, Mumbai was very much the team of the Super League. An all win record is not easy when the competitive level is very high and it must not be forgotten that Mumbai were in the `group of death' for the other sides pooled along with them included Karnataka, Bengal and Delhi. On their showing so far - they had also won the West Zone championship - Mumbai must be favourites to regain the title.

For Delhi it was a Super League campaign to forget in a hurry. Even granting that they were in a tough group, a tally of eight points from four games was disappointing. It was also a lacklustre campaign for Bengal. True, they were also in the same group of heavyweights but a factor in their favour seemed to be that they would be playing all their four matches at the Eden Gardens. However, with Karnataka taking time to find form, Bengal remained in the hunt till the start of the last match. But they were badly outplayed by Mumbai and had to be satisfied with third spot with 13 points. Central Zone champions Rajasthan were never in the running from this group and finished with eight points, sharing last spot with Delhi.

Group B was probably the best contested. The points position at the start of the last round of matches said it all. From three games each, Baroda had 18 points, Punjab 16, Railways 14 and Hyderabad 13. All the four teams had almost equal chances to make it to the knock out stage. Ultimately by scoring victories over Railways and Baroda, Punjab and Hyderabad made the grade. The North Zone champions topped the group with 24 points followed by Hyderabad with 21. It was a particularly strong finish by Punjab who at the halfway mark had only eight points. Bihar were the outsiders in this group and, not unexpectedly, they ended up in the cellar position with three points.

Group C was the most lop sided. At the halfway mark itself it seemed almost sure that Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh would make the grade. East Zone champions Orissa were expected to pose a challenge but they were never quite up to it and finished with 14 points. Saurashtra and Haryana were never really in the hunt and both shared bottom spot with eight points. All this left the field open to Tamil Nadu and UP. The South Zone champions were off to a great start with two victories and then with first innings points in their remaining matches, they finished on top with 26 points. UP's campaign was a mixed bag but two victories helped them to end with 22 points.