Rajkot/Mumbai: Saurashtra, who have already qualified for the knock-outs, will aim to finish the league stage with a victory when they will face Tamil Nadu in Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game in Rajkot from Wednesday.
Saurashtra collected three points from their drawn- game against Mumbai and are sitting at the second place in the combined A and B Group standings with 28 points. A win will boost their more before playing the quarter-final.
Only five teams from combined A and B will make the quarter-final.
Tamil Nadu, who are 19 points, are in contention mathematically. They will need to beat Saurashtra with a bonus point and then hope that Karnataka, UP and Punjab lose their respective games. If TN don’t win with a bonus point, they can still qualify if Karnataka, Punjab and UP lose their matches, as then the quotient will come into picture.
TN right now have a higher quotient. Bowling has not been an issue for Saurashtra as their spinners led by Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and pacers led by Jaydev Unadkat have done a decent job. Jadeja has so far taken 20 wickets. But he needs support from others and so does Unadkat. It is their batting which needs to come good, especially the top-order. The hosts are too dependent on Arpit Vasavada or Sheldon Jackson and the likes of Harvik Deai, Snell Patel need to score big.
Tamil Nadu have a tough task at hand considering that the track at SCA Stadium could aide spinners from the third day. Meanwhile, multiple-time champions Mumbai, who have been knocked-out of the Ranji trophy, will play for pride against Madhya Pradesh.
The Vinayak Samant-coached team would like to end, what has been a disappointing season on a winning note. Mumbai have added all-rounder Aakrshit Gomel to the 15-member squad for the game against MP. In other elite B games, Karnataka take on Baroda at Bengaluru Baroda are already out. And at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh take on Himachal Pradesh. (PTI)
