Ranji Round 3: Exciting fare on the cards

What makes a Delhi vs Railways match special is the standard of the competition. The pendulum has swung from one side to the other with each...

What makes a Delhi vs Railways match special is the standard of the competition. The pendulum has swung from one side to the other with each passing year. Railways won outright the last time the two teams met at the Karnail Singh Stadium whereas Delhi gained a first innings lead in the previous year.

Both teams are strong in batting and a good first innings score is what either team is looking forward to dictate terms for the remainder of the match.

Delhi have four points and Railways two. from two matches each.

Punjab upbeat at home

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Riding on the crest of a thumping win over Assam, Punjab look forward to continue their winning run, when they meet Baroda at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali.

Punjab coach Intikhab Alam was happy with the showing of his batsmen (Ravneet Ricky and Pankaj Dharmani have scored a ton each thus far) and medium pacer Gagandeep Singh, who finished with 12 wickets against Assam.

Baroda have 4 points from two games. Baroda opener Satyajit Parab hit back-to-back centuries (120, 100) against Maharashtra while Jacob Martin scored 126 against Assam.

Mumbai want full points

Reigning champions Mumbai are at full strength after missing the services of three key members in their last match and are looking forward to gain full points from their third league match against Andhra.

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Mumbai, with only two points from as many matches, are eager to boost their tally to the maximum possible extent though Andhra are no push-overs.

	THE MATCH-UPS

			(Elite Division) • Mumbai vs Andhra Pradesh • Delhi vs Railways • Bengal vs Gujarat • Karnataka vs Madhya Pradesh • Punjab vs Baroda • Uttar Pradesh vs Assam • Hyderabad vs Maharashtra

HOME ADVANTAGE

The fancied teams — Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab, Bengal — all play at home. A good time, then, for the India fringe players to make their mark. The old guard (Jadeja, Kambli), those in the wings (Agarkar, Yuvraj, Bahutule, Dinesh Mongia, Ramesh Powar), discards (Aakash Chopra, Wasim Jaffer) and the promising (Ambati Rayudu)

AGAINST ODDS

The promising trio of Venugopal Rao, Dheeraj Jadhav and Siddarth Trivedi will be battling the odds playing away from home. Rao especially is on fire but will be up against a hungry Mumbai attack.

THE PITCH BATTLES

		• Hyderabad vs Maharashtra Ambati Rayudu vs Dheeraj Jadhav • Bengal vs Gujarat Murtaza Lodhgar (10 in the first match), Laxmi Ratan Shukla (90 and 65 in the last match) vs Parthiv Patel and Siddharth Trivedi • Punjab vs Baroda Gagandeep Singh (12 wkts in the last game) vs Satyajit Parab (hundreds in each innings of the last match) • Delhi vs Railways Aakash Chopra, Ajay Jadeja, Amit Bhandari vs Sanjay Bangar, Amit Pagnis, JP Yadav, TP Singh