Ranji: Punjab, HP in knockout race

Chandigarh, November 7
From amongst the four teams of the region in the Ranji Trophy, two continue to be in the race for the knockouts while the remaining two have fallen too far behind to catch up.
At the end of Round 4 of the league stage, Punjab and Himachal have a good chance of making it to the quarterfinals from Group D, but Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, placed in Group B, are languishing at the bottom.
Haryana, quite surprisingly, have lost all three matches, and are out of contention. J&K, who are placed a rung above Haryana, have managed a draw along with three losses. They, too, are out of the race. Punjab, surprisingly, sit atop Group D with 15 points from four matches, while Himachal are placed fourth with 13 points.
It’s surprising to see Punjab at the top, for they had a rather poor start to the season — they conceded the first innings lead to Himachal in the drawn opener and lost to Vidarbha in their second game at home. The side, however, made up for the sluggish start by registering outright wins against Goa and Chhattisgarh in their last two games.
“We didn’t have a good start but the team did really well to claim outright wins in the last two games,” said Punjab coach Ajay Ratra. “Our batsmen have done quite well right from the start. They have already scored three double tons. Our pacers didn’t look at their best at the start, but they seem to have regained their rhythm. So, I think we are getting better with every game.”

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