Ranji Trophy Super League starts on Saturday

The men have been separated from the boys and they now take on each other when the Ranji Trophy Super League commences with matches at six centres from Saturday.

What a change has come over the format of the Ranji Trophy tournament over the last couple of years. About three decades ago only the five zonal winners qualified, the knock out matches consisting of only four and the season was generally over by February end. Then in 1970-71 the format was changed to allow the top two teams from each zone and that made the knock out format much longer. With ten teams now in the fray, there were a total of nine matches before the winner was spotted. A couple of years ago, the knock out format was stretched even more to allow the top three teams in the zone. What is more, the format was changed from knock out to league cum knock out. And while this meant that the final of the championship would be played only in the heat of April, it also meant that the players would get that many more opportunities.

There are some potentially high voltage clashes in the first round of matches, but the game that is likely to attract most attention is the one between defending champions Karnataka and Mumbai at Bangalore. And even though Sachin Tendulkar and Ajit Agarkar are both not playing for Mumbai, the match is unlikely to be devoid of fireworks. In the other group A game, hosts Delhi start as favourites against Rajasthan.

Group B has a couple of potentially interesting clashes. Baroda would seem to have the edge over Bihar in the game to be played at Baroda while the Punjab-Hyderabad clash in Punjab has the makings of a real scorcher.

The UP-Haryana game in Haryana and the Tamil Nadu-Saurashtra match in Chennai are the opening clashes in group C. The home team would appear to be the favourites in each case.

Bengal in group A, Railways in group B and Orissa in group C play their first matches in the next round, which commences on February 14.

As I said, the extended format gives the players enough chances to prove their worth. It is now up to the cricketers to make most of the opportunities the Super League games give them to force their way into reckoning for the National side.