It has reached a stage where Punjab are struggling to find replacements for youngsters like the off-spinner Sarandeep Singh and leg-spinner Sandeep Sawal (selected for India Under-19 side), who themselves were in their debut season in first class cricket. This has put the Punjab team-management in a Catch-22 situation as an out-of-form left-arm spinner Navdeep Singh doesn't really helps Punjab's cause. Add to it Harbhajan Singh's pre-occupation with the Indian team.

Being the team's main left-arm spinner much was expected from Navdeep, but after a good start to the North Zone league earlier, he suddenly lost his zip when bowling to standard teams like Haryana and Delhi. His struggle for wickets continued in the game against Rajasthan and his poor show there prompted the management to drop him for the game against Hyderabad. Just imagine, Punjab were taking the field in a Ranji game without a regular left-arm spinner (batsman Yuvraj Singh wheeled his arm over for a while in his absence). It is no secret that Punjab's previous fortunes were always linked to a left-arm spinner Bharti Vij. It is only after he decided not to continue playing for Punjab, that the state bowling has been left exposed.

Punjab have requisitioned the services of Customs and Excise's Madan Lal (LA spinner), and a relatively unknown Jalandhar off spinner Vikram though it remains to be seen whether any of the two gets a look-in the squad for the games against Baroda (at Baroda; March 4 to 7) and Bengal (at Calcutta; March 14 to 17).

Coach Manjit Singh, conceding the team's weak bowling resources taking into account the Herculean task ahead of them, felt, ``It is a grim stage now. Nothing seems to be going right for us. After our bowlers failed against Rajasthan, we decided to strengthen our batting against Hyderabad. We had the match almost wrapped up on the last day, but our inexperienced batsmen failed to drive home the advantage after Navjot Sidhu and Vikram Rathore gave us a tremendous start. Sidhu got a bad decision and the rest did not have a clue as to what ought to have been done. Had we won, we would have gained eight points and been in a comfortable position to qualify for the next stage''.

Punjab have a strong batting line up on paper, with stalwarts like Sidhu, Rathore, Pankaj Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia in their ranks but somehow, they are yet to click collectively. Dharmani and Mongia need to post big scores to do justice to their talent. Since Reetinder Sodhi and Yuvraj Singh have also been included in the Indian Colts side, Punjab have decided to recall middle-order bats Amit Sharma and Rakesh Saini to bolster them up. The probables are going through their paces in the camp at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium at S.A.S. Nagar near here and will leave for Baroda on February 1.

Manjit is still optimistic about the team's chances of posting two straight outright wins, but with such a mediocre and toothless bowling where seamer Bharat Bhushan and to an extent Sandeep Sharma are the only flag-bearers, it would be a surprise of sorts if the side manages even one.