After five rounds of Ranji Trophy 2015-16 season, it is time to take stock of where the teams stand as the tournament enters the business end. In Group A, there is little separating the top five teams which would make for an interesting viewing in the latter half of the ongoing tournament. With two wins each, Delhi and Vidarbha are at No 1 and 2 in the table respectively. The Gautam Gambhir-led side have conceded first innings lead just once in their five games. After two successive wins, bad weather in Odisha spoiled Delhi’s party, preventing them from posting their third win. Vidarbha under the leadership of S Badrinath are making a case for themselves with two wins from five matches. After a low-lying presence in the circuit, Vidarbha are making their presence felt in the ongoing season. With 31 wickets in the season so far, Akshay Wakhare has been the pick of their bowlers. He has been complemented by the likes of Aditya Sarvate, who played a crucial role in getting the team across the line. Defending champions Karnataka who have made a clean sweep across formats in the last couple of seasons were slow to get off the blocks this season. Their first win came in the recently concluded fifth round against Rajasthan. The Manoj Tiwary-led Bengal have played four matches but are yet to collect four points and as a result are are at No 5. Teams in Group B could be fighting tooth and nail for a spot in the knock-outs. After an up and down last season, where they scraped through to the knockouts, Mumbai are Group B table toppers with two wins from four matches. The young team led by Aditya Tare seem and coached by Chandrakant Pandit seem to have got their balance right. With Shreyas Iyer carrying his good form from the 2014-15 season, into the ongoing one, Mumbai have a match-winning stroke-player in their ranks while Suryakumar Yadav has played more controlled innings to hold the innings together. Shardul Thakur has found an ally in Dhawal Kulkarni, who is back into the attack while spinners Harmeet Singh and Vishal Dabholkar have fulfilled their roles so far. Punjab, who are below Mumbai (net run-rate) have won two so far, both at home. Gurkeerat Singh Mann was the key to both their victories. While he performed with the bat in the first game, he bowled the team to victory in their most recent match. Fighting for slots in the knockout stages are Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, who pulled off back-to-back away wins to keep themselves in the reckoning. UP's pace attack led by Praveen Kumar has tested opposition batsmen while left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar too has played a key role in the team posting their first win. In comparison to the other two groups, Group C seems to be more settled. Saurashtra and Himachal Pradesh are firmly sitting on No 1 and 2 poistions with 25 and 20 points respectively. It will be an uphill task for any of the other teams from the group to catch-up with the top two. Before leaving for national duty, Ravindra Jadeja (38 wickets from four matches) ensured his team a comfortable position and finished as the leading wicket-taker in the tournament. Saurashtra have been unbeaten in the tournament so far. For HP, the exploits of Paras Dogra have made a difference to the team’s fortune. Points table

Top run-getters and wicket-takers

GROUP STANDINGS

TOP RUN SCORERS

MOST WICKETS