From 27, the figure was brought down to 15. And now that figure in turn has been whittled down to six. It's been a long, hard campaign which now enters the home stretch. And the knock out stage of the Ranji Trophy championship commences with two quarterfinals on Thursday - Tamil Nadu playing Punjab at Chennai and Uttar Pradesh taking on Hyderabad at Kanpur. Oft crowned champions Mumbai and reigning champions Karnataka have earned byes into the semifinals. Mumbai await the winners of the Tamil Nadu - Punjab game while the winners of the Hyderabad - UP match play Karnataka in the semifinals.

There is little doubt that the six teams remaining in the competition have earned the right to compete for the trophy. There were times it seemed when Karnataka and Hyderabad would not make it but they fought their way back after unimpressive starts in the Super League to make the grade. UP were always in the running for a spot in the knock out stage after a pretty impressive showing in the Super League, though the fact remains that they finished third in the Central Zone league. As regards Mumbai, Tamil Nadu and Punjab there was never any doubt as to these teams making the grade. Not only did they finish on top in their respective zones, they went on to comfortably finish winners in their group in the Super League too.

Which is why the draw for the knock out stage seems uneven. Mumbai, Tamil Nadu and Punjab are in one half and the other half consists of Hyderabad, UP and Karnataka. Given their performances so far in the zonal league and the Super League, there is little doubt that the Tamil Nadu - Punjab tie will generate far greater interest.

Tamil Nadu won the South Zone championship with 31 points from five games. They then went on to top Group C in the Super League with 26 points from four matches. Matching them however in this regard are Punjab, which won the North Zone championship with 34 points from five games. They then went on top group B in the Super League with 24 points from four games. Not much to choose between the two teams really and it remains to be seen how effective the home advantage will be for Tamil Nadu.

Even the composition of the teams points to an engrossing tussle. Punjab's batting is strong and all their main run getters - Ravneet Ricky, skipper Vikram Rathour, Pankaj Dharmani, Dinesh Mongia, Youraj Singh and RS Sodhi have been in consistent form. The bowling in the hands of medium pacers Sandeep Sharma and Gagandeep Singh and spinners Sharandeep Singh and Harbhajan Singh have also been among the wickets. All in all, they are a well balanced side.

But then they are up against a Tamil Nadu side who are having a very good run. Their batting is no less formidable with the likes of Aashish Kapoor, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Sridharan Sharath, Hemang Badani, Sridharan Sriram and Robin Singh in good form. They also bat in depth with JR Madanagopal, Rajath Bhatia, Reuben Paul, Sadagoppan Mahesh and J Gokulakrishna all part of the latter order. Only in their last Super League game against UP, Sriram got 288 - a knock which saw him pitchforked into the Indian team - and Sharath scored 205. The bowling, manned by Kumaran, Gokulakrishna, Mahesh, Kapoor, Sriram and Bhatia, is no less impressive.

The other quarterfinal should also be a keen encounter, though UP have the home advantage which could prove crucial. On form there is very little to choose between the teams. For Hyderabad, Mohd. Azharuddin, VVS Laxman, A Nandakishore, Vanka Pratap and P Satwalkar have been among the runs. Medium pacer NP Singh has consistently been picking up the wickets and spinners Venkatapathi Raju and Kanwaljit Singh can be a handful. UP's strength lies in the bowling which is manned by AW Zaidi, Sallabh Srivastava and skipper Gyanendra Pandey. The batting, with Pandey, R Shamsad, Md Kaif, Manoj Mudgal and S Shukla around, is in capable hands.

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