Delhi, Punjab clash for supremacy

amritsar: having got the better of services, haryana himachal pradesh and jammu and kashmir, delhi should be aiming to top the north zone ranji trophy league table when they play their last zonal league match against punjab, starting here at the gandhi ground on friday. both sides have already made it to the super league. delhi have 29 points from three outright victories and first-innings points against himachal pradesh while punjab have 24 from two outright wins, first-innings points from services and three from haryana.himachal, with 19 points, have a good chance of making the super league for the first time if they can take out at least three points from their last game against haryana at rohtak. haryana have 16 and an outright win will see them through to the next stage. both delhi and punjab have similar problems. their bowling has been weakened with their star bowlers either on national duty or on the injured list. if delhi miss spinners rahul sanghvi and sarandeep singh, who is in the squad for the first test against england, punjab will be without harbhajan singh. for delhi, seamers amit bhandari and arun singh can do the trick. with hosts punjab keen on playing on a green-top to help their seamers gagandeep singh and vineet sharma, delhi pacers too can cause some damage. delhi can also rely on budding leg-spinner abhishek sharma whose temperament belies his age and he looks to be a big match player. in the absence of star batsman virender sehwag from the delhi ranks, punjab batting has an edge. punjab openers ravneet ricky and manish sharma are not in a crackling form. with vikram rathore, pankaj dharmani, yuvraj singh and reetinder singh sodhi forming the middle-order, punjab doesn't need to worry where the runs would come from. delhi would welcome the return of their injured skipper vijay dahiya. his resolute batting should be handy. delhi's batting will be lead by mithun manhas who had batted well against services and haryana. opening batsmen gautam gambhir and akash chopra will be tested but they have the ability to cope with the conditions. sohail rauf and pradeep chawla have come good in patches this season.