Ranji Trophy 2016-17: Mumbai, Jharkhand, Karnataka qualify, 5 spots still up for grabs

It is that time of the Indian cricket season. Ranji Trophy 2016-17 has reached its business end. Of the originally scheduled 117 league matches, only 15 remain. Some of the usual suspects, Mumbai, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu (TN), have either qualified or as good as qualified; some others, like Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, and Delhi, are still in contention; both Jharkhand and Gujarat have exceeded expectations; and traditionally strong teams like Railways, Baroda, and Saurashtra have underperformed. The teams at the bottom of the tables in Groups A and B have their own battles, what with the threat of relegation looming large. Group C, (the ‘Plate’ Group of Ranji Trophy) remains still wide open, the teams eyeing both quarter-final spots and promotion.

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Before we discuss the situation for every team, let us get acquainted with the points system.

Match with result:
Winning side 6, losing side 0.
If a side wins by an innings or 10 wickets, they get a bonus point.
Tie:
Both sides 3 apiece.
Draw:
Side taking first-innings lead gets 3; opposition gets 1.
If the sides are tied on first innings, the sides get 1 apiece.
If the lead is not determinable after first innings, they get 1 each .

Group A
Let us now have a look at the points table for every group. As expected, Mumbai dominated Group A, with Gujarat and TN fighting for the second spot.

Mumbai
With only two teams (Gujarat and TN) inside the 7-point range, Mumbai have qualified.

Gujarat
– Gujarat are on second spot. A win against third-ranked TN will put them beyond anyone but Mumbai, and will guarantee them a spot. Even a first-innings lead will grant them qualification.
– If Gujarat concede a first-innings lead they may still go through provided Madhya Pradesh (MP) do not get a bonus point against Bengal.
– What happens if Gujarat lose to TN? In that case Gujarat will remain on 25. Several teams will have a chance to go past Gujarat in that case.

Tamil Nadu
– A win against Gujarat will see TN through. A first-innings lead will take them to 26, on par with Gujarat. If MP get a bonus point against Bengal, all three teams will be tied on 26. Of the three, Gujarat lead in net run rate, followed by TN and MP in that order.
– If TN lose to Gujarat they will have to wait for other matches. If Punjab beat Mumbai or the MP vs Bengal match has a result, TN will be eliminated.

Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Bengal
– All three teams can go past TN if TN lose to Gujarat. In fact, MP are 6 points behind Gujarat and the others 7, so it is possible for them to catch up with Gujarat as well if the latter lose. Even if Gujarat get a single point against TN, a bonus point against Bengal will put MP on par with them.
– Having said that, MP, Punjab, and Bengal (ordered by descending net run rate) are significantly behind Gujarat and TN (in that order). The best bet for all three sides is to win the last match and hope TN lose their last match outright.

Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (UP) have been eliminated. Unless they do a terrible job against Baroda they will survive relegation.

Railways
Having played all their matches, Railways are almost on the verge of relegation. Unless Baroda lose outright or UP lose terribly, Railways will feature in Group C next year.

Baroda
Placed at the bottom of Group A, Baroda will have to draw the match against UP (irrespective of who takes the lead) to avoid relegation.

Group B
Jharkhand have done brilliantly this season, edging past everyone else, with Karnataka hot on their heels. Both sides have qualified, while three teams are competing for the third spot.

Jharkhand
Jharkhand have qualified, and play Odisha in their last match. To finish on top they will simply have to remain ahead of Karnataka following their outcome against Maharashtra.
– If Jharkhand get 6 OR Karnataka get 0 or 1, Jharkhand will top the table.
– If Karnataka get 3, Jharkhand will have to get 3 (their net run rates are very close to each other).
– If Karnataka win, Jharkhand will have to win.

Karnataka
Karnataka have qualified as well. For them to top the table at least one of these has to happen:
– Karnataka win against Maharashtra and Jharkhand do not win against Odisha.
– Karnataka take first-innings lead and Jharkhand do not take first-innings lead and Karnataka finish ahead of Jharkhand on net run rate.

Odisha, Delhi, Maharashtra
– Exactly one of these three teams will qualify. Odisha hold the advantage of the extra point, while Delhi have the best run rate, which means if Delhi win with a bonus point and Odisha win without one, Delhi go through.
– Maharashtra also have a chance, but they if they are tied on points with Delhi or Odisha (which is possible if Delhi and Odisha both lose and Maharashtra get 1 point) they will miss out.
– As for their last matches, Odisha will play group-topper Jharkhand, Delhi will play Saurashtra, while Maharashtra will play Karnataka.

Vidarbha, Saurashtra, Rajasthan
Neither side will qualify or get relegated. Saurashtra will play Delhi in their last match while Vidarbha and Rajasthan will play each other.

Assam
Having played all their matches and still languishing at the bottom, Assam will play in Group C in Ranji Trophy 2017-18.

Group C
Unlike the other two groups, only two teams will advance from Group C, both into the quarter-final and to one of the two top-tier groups. Hyderabad lead the table, but they cannot afford to get complacent as six other teams are in contention.

Hyderabad
All Hyderabad need to do is to draw the Andhra match. Even if they lose outright they can still qualify, provided Haryana do not qualify outright.

Andhra, Haryana
Andhra hold the edge with one extra win (which gets priority over net run rate). Haryana will have to get more points than Andhra in the last match against Tripura.

The only exception to this will happen if both sides win their last matches. In that case both Andhra and Haryana will go through.

Kerala
A win with a bonus point will see Kerala through provided neither Andhra nor Haryana win their final matches.

If Kerala beat Services they will reach 28, three ahead of the current points of both Andhra and Haryana. Andhra will remain ahead of Kerala in terms of wins, which means that 3 points for Andhra will eliminate Kerala.

Himachal Pradesh
If Himachal Pradesh (HP) beat Goa with a bonus point they have to hope for the following:
– Both Andhra and Haryana getting 0 or 1.
– Kerala not winning outright.
If HP beat Goa without a bonus point the conditions will become:
– Both Andhra and Haryana losing outright.
– Kerala not winning outright.

Goa
Goa have to beat HP with a bonus point. They will also need both Andhra and Haryana to lose (and Kerala to get 3 or less), and will still have to finish above Andhra in net run rate. At this stage they are very close to each other on net run rate.

Services, Tripura, Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh
All four have been eliminated. Chhattisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir (J & K) take on each other, while Services and Tripura will play Kerala and Haryana respectively.