The number of outright victories scored by a team in the round-robin stage of the Ranji Trophy Super League will decide which team goes through to the January 23-27 semi-finals in case of a tie on points, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said.
If two or more teams secure the same number of points, then their relative position in the points table will be determined by the number of outright wins, with the team scoring more being placed higher, the BCCI said in a statement on Saturday.
Should they end up equal in both points and wins, the position then shall be determined by calculating the quotient, with the team having better quotient being placed higher.
With the tournament entering its last round league phase, only Baroda (17 points from 6 matches with four outright wins) has secured a place in the last four from Group A.
The fight for the second berth from this pool is a straight contest between Karnataka (15 from 6) and Andhra (12 from 6).
While Baroda has a match against relegation-threatened Tamil Nadu (4 from 6) at Chennai (Jan 10-13), UP (4 from 6) takes on Andhra in Kanpur while Karnataka is up against Saurashtra (9 from 6).
Karnataka is ahead of Andhra on number of outright wins (3 against 2) as well as points.
Group B is more open with five teams in with a chance to enter the semis though pool leader, Bengal, looks well-poised with 12 points in its kitty and two outright wins to boot.
Second-placed Mumbai, which has 10 points to its credit, too has scored two outright wins ahead of its last league engagement against Maharashtra (7 points from 5 matches).
Hyderabad and Punjab have the same number of points (8 from 5), but the former is placed higher in the table at number three as it has one outright win to its credit as compared to Punjab, which is yet to taste victory in the league.
Hyderabad squares off against Punjab at home in the concluding league engagement while group topper Bengal takes on Rajasthan (4 from 5) at Kolkata.
Rajasthan has avoided relegation with its win over Gujarat (4 from 5). The latter will play in the Plate division next season.