Published: Nov 21, 2016, 07:30 AM (IST)
Edited: Nov 20, 2016, 08:42 PM (IST)
Hello and Welcome to CricketCountry’s coverage of Ranji Trophy 2016-17 Round 7, Day One. This round will witness 13, Commencing from today. From Group A, it will be Gujarat facing the stern test of Mumbai at the KSCA Stadium, Hubli and in the same group Baroda will be locking horns with Bengal at the Chaudhry Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium, Lahli. Madhya Pradesh will play against Railways at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi and Tamil Nadu will cross sword against Punjab at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur.
When it comes to Group B, Vidarbha will play against Saurashtra at the Karnail Singh Stadium, New Delhi, Odisha and Karnataka will be playing against each other at the Airforce Complex ground, Palam, New Delhi, while Maharashtra will lock horns with Assam at the IIT Chemplast Chennai and Rajasthan will face off Delhi at the Krishnagiri Stadium, Wayanad.
In the Group C of the tournament, Kerala will play against Andhra at the Baraspara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati. Haryana will be playing against Goa at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, Ghaziabad while Tripura will play against Jammu and Kashmir at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy BKC, Mumbai and Hyderabad play against Chhattisgarh at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Valsad and finally, Services will play against Himachal at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium, Surat.
In the points table after the conclusion of Round 6, Mumbai tops the Group A with 25 points followed by Tamil Nadu and Gujarat with 0 and 18 points respectively. Team Baroda is lying at the bottom of Group A with just 3 points. In the Group B, Karnataka tops the table with 29 points followed by Jharkhand and Maharashtra whom have accumulated 26 and 14 points each. Saurashtra is at the bottom of the table in Group B with just 6 points.
In the last Group of the tournament C, Andhra tops the list with 22 points and are followed by Haryana and Himachal with 19 and 18 points apiece. The Ranji Trophy 2016-17 tournament consists of total of 9 Rounds and eventually the final of the tournament would be played on January 7.
What can also be termed as an good news for Punjab is that Harbhajan Singh was named the captain of the Punjab Ranji Trophy team that will take on Tamil Nadu, to be played at Nagpur from 21-24 Harbhajan will be playing the first match of the current Ranji season. Harbhajan will take over as captain from Yuvraj Singh, who will miss the matches against Tamil Nadu and Gujarat due to his wedding. Punjab have so far played five matches in Pool A and accumulated 16 points with two wins, two draws and a loss.
Having been released from the India squad, Gautam Gambhir is set to lead Delhi in their Ranji Trophy fixture against Rajasthan in Wayanad. Fast bowler Ishant Sharma was named the 16th member of the squad, although he is likely to stay with the national team as cover. Shikhar Dhawan, however, is a certain starter in the Delhi XI, having recovered from a thumb injury he sustained in the only Test he played against New Zealand, in Kolkata. Dhawan will be keen to prove his fitness in domestic cricket, in line with national coach Anil Kumble’s policy, and press his case for the hotly-contested opening spots.
