Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cricket in India founded it in 1934, since then it is annually organised across various grounds and stadiums in India.

The competition currently consists of 38 teams, with all 28 states in India and four of the eight union territories having at least one representation. When it started it was named as ‘The Cricket Championship of India’, in 1935 it was renamed after Ranjitsinhji who was the first ever Indian who played international cricket, he played for England from 1896–1902.

Ranji Trophy

Ranji Trophy Logo
Countries	India
Administrator	BCCI
Headquarters	Cricket centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Format	First-class cricket
First edition	1934–35
Latest edition	2022–23
Next edition	2023-24
Tournament format	Round-robin, then knockout
Number of teams	38
Current champion	Saurashtra (2 titles)
Most successful	Mumbai (41 titles)
Qualification	Irani Cup
Most runs	Wasim Jaffer (12,038) 1996–2020
Most wickets	Rajinder Goel (640) 1958–1985
TV	Star Sports 2 HD Disney+ Hotstar
Longest continuous champion	Bombay cricket team

The Mumbai cricket team is the most successful team of the tournament by winning it record 41 times.

Saurashtra cricket team is present title holder by winning 2022-23 Ranji Trophy. It defeated Bengal cricket team in the final.

History

The idea of national level first class championship was proposed by BCCI’s founder A.S. De Mello. The competition was launched following BCCI’s meeting at Shimla in July 1934, with the first fixtures taking place in 1934–35 .Initially the tournament was named as ‘The cricket championship of India’, it later was renamed. The trophy was donated by Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala in memory of Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, Jam Sahib of Nawanagar who had died the previous year. The first match of the competition was held on 4 November 1934 between Madras and Mysore at the Chepauk ground in Madras (Now Chennai). Mumbai (Bombay) have won the tournament the most times with 41 wins including 15 back-to-back wins from 1958–59 to 1972–73.

In 2015 Paytm became the first company to hold the tournament’s title sponsorship right by virtue of BCCI’s title sponsorship deal.

The 2020–21 Ranji Trophy tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first season since the tournament’s inception that it was not held.

Participants

State and regional teams with first-class status and owned–operated by BCCI members play in the Ranji Trophy. While most associations are regional such as the Mumbai Cricket Association, Karnataka State Cricket Association while Railways, Services, are pan-Indian.

Current teams

The following 38 teams currently participate in the Ranji Trophy:

† denotes newly added teams from the 2018–19 season

Defunct teams

The following teams have appeared in the Ranji Trophy, but no longer do so:

• Central India (1934/35 – 1940/41)
• Central Provinces and Berar (1934/35 – 1949/50)
• Northern India (1934/35 – 1946/47)
• Sind (1934/35 – 1947/48)
• Southern Punjab (1934/35 – 1951/52, 1959/60 – 1967/68)
• Western India (1934/35 – 1945/46)
• Nawanagar (1936/37 – 1947/48)
• North West Frontier Province (1937/38 – 1946/47)
• Holkar (1941/42 – 1954/55)
• Gwalior (1943/44)
• Patiala/Patiala and Eastern Punjab States Union (1948/49, 1953/54 – 1958/59)
• Eastern Punjab (1950/51 – 1959/60)
• Travancore-Cochin (1951/52 – 1956/57)
• Madhya Bharat (1955/56 – 1956/57)
• Northern Punjab (1960/61 – 1967/68)

Stadiums

Stadium	City	Capacity	Home team(s)
Narendra Modi Stadium	Ahmedabad	132,000	Gujarat
Eden Gardens	Kolkata	66,000	Bengal
Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium	Raipur	65,000	Chhattisgarh
Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium	Hyderabad	55,000	Hyderabad
Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium	Lucknow	50,000	Uttar Pradesh
Greenfield International Stadium	Thiruvananthapuram	55,000	Kerala
JSCA International Cricket Stadium	Ranchi	50,000	Jharkhand
Barabati Stadium	Cuttack	45,000	Odisha
Nalanda International Cricket Stadium	Rajgir	45,000	Bihar
Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium	Nagpur	45,000	Vidarbha
Arun Jaitley Stadium	New Delhi	41,842	Delhi
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium	Bengaluru	40,000	Karnataka
Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Cricket Stadium	Guwahati	40,000	Assam
Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium	Pune	37,406	Maharashtra
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium	Chennai	33,500	Tamil Nadu
Wankhede Stadium	Mumbai	33,108	Mumbai
Holkar Stadium	Indore	30,000	Madhya Pradesh
Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium	Agartala	30,000	Tripura
Sector 16 Stadium	Chandigarh	30,000	Chandigarh
Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium	Rajkot	28,000	Saurashtra
Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium	Mohali	26,000	Punjab
Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy International Cricket Stadium	Visakhapatnam	25,000	Andhra
Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium	Dharamshala	25,000	Himachal Pradesh
Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium	Dehradun	25,000	Uttarakhand
Sawai Mansingh Stadium	Jaipur	23,185	Rajasthan
Moti Bagh Stadium	Vadodara	18,000	Baroda
Mining Cricket Stadium	Rangpo	17,500	Sikkim

Format

From the Ranji Trophy’s inception until the 2001 season (with the exception of 1948–49 season), the teams were grouped geographically into four or five zones – North, West, East, and South, with Central added in 1952–53. Initial matches were played within the zones on a knock-out basis until 1956–57, and thereafter on a league basis, to determine a winner; then, the five individual zone winners competed in a knock-out tournament, leading to a final which decided the winner of the Ranji Trophy. From the 1970–71 season, the knock-out stage was expanded to the top two teams from each zone, a total of ten qualifying teams. This was expanded again to the top three from each zone in 1992–93, a total of fifteen qualifying teams; between 1996–97 and 1999–2000, the fifteen qualifying teams competed in a secondary group stage, with three groups of five teams, and the top two from each group qualified for a six-team knock-out stage; in all other years until 2001–02, a full fifteen-team knock-out tournament was held.

The format was changed in the 2002–03 season with the zonal system abandoned and a two-division structure adopted – the Elite Group, containing fifteen teams, and the Plate Group, containing the rest. Each group had two sub-groups which played a round-robin; the top two from each Elite sub-group then contested a four-team knock-out tournament to determine the winner of the Ranji Trophy. The team which finished last in each Elite sub-group was relegated, and both Plate Group finalists were promoted for the following season. For the 2006–07 season, the divisions were re-labelled the Super League and Plate League respectively.

In the 2008–09 season, this format was adjusted to give both Super League and Plate League teams an opportunity to contest the Ranji Trophy. The top two from each Plate sub-group contested semi-finals; the winners of these two matches then joined the top three from each Super League sub-group in an eight-team knock-out tournament. The winner of this knock-out tournament then won the Ranji Trophy. Promotion and relegation between Super League and Plate League continued as before. In the 2010–11 season, Rajasthan won the Ranji Trophy after beginning the season in the Plate League.

From the 2012–13 season, this format was adjusted slightly. The Super League and Plate League names were abandoned, but the two-tier system remained. The top tier expanded from fifteen teams to eighteen teams, in two sub-groups of nine (known as Group A and Group B, and considered equal in status); and the second tier was reduced to nine teams in a single group (known as Group C). The top three teams from Groups A and B and the top two from Group C contest the knockout phase. The lowest placed team in each of Group A and Group B is relegated to Group C, and the top two from Group C are promoted to the top tier.

For the 2017–18 season, the two-tier system was abandoned to have 4 groups of seven teams each and two quarter-finalists from each group.

From the 2018–19 season, the teams contested in three-tiers. Five teams will qualify for the quarter-finals from the top tier (known as Elite Group A and Group B). Two teams will qualify from the second-tier (Elite Group C) and one team from the lower-tier (Plate Group) for the quarter-finals.

Round-robin matches are four days in length; knockout matches are played for five days. Throughout its history, if there is no outright result in a Ranji Trophy knock-out match, the team leading after the first innings is the winner.

Prior to the 2016–17 season, matches were played at the home ground of one of the two teams taking part. For the 2016–17 competition, the BCCI decided that all games would be staged at a neutral venue.

Points summary

Points in the league stages of both divisions are currently awarded as follows:

Scenario	Points
Win outright	6
Bonus point (for innings or 10 wicket wins)	1
1st innings lead in a drawn match	3 *
No result	1
1st innings deficit in a drawn match	1 *
Lost outright	0

Tournament records

Team records
Most wins	41	Mumbai	1934–2016
Highest team score	935/5 dec.	Hyderabad v Andhra	1993–94
Lowest team score	21	Hyderabad v Rajasthan	2010

Individual match records
Highest individual innings	443*	B. B. Nimbalkar	Maharashtra v Kathiawar	1948–49
Best innings bowling	10/20	Premangsu Chatterjee	Bengal v Assam	1956–57
Best match bowling	16/99	Anil Kumble	Karnataka v Kerala	1994–95

Individual season records
Most runs in a season	1,415	V. V. S. Laxman	Hyderabad	1999–2000
Most centuries in a season	7	Wasim Jaffer	Mumbai	1999–2000
Most wickets in a season	68	Ashutosh Aman	Bihar	2018–19

Individual career records
Most career matches	155	Wasim Jaffer	1996–2020
Most career runs	12,038	Wasim Jaffer	1996–2020
Most career centuries	40	Wasim Jaffer	1996–2020
Highest career batting average	98.35	Vijay Merchant	1934–51
Most career wickets	640†	Rajinder Goel	1958–85

^† Some sources credit Goel with 636 or 640 wickets instead – see Rajinder Goel article for details.

Winners

The following teams have won the tournament:

Season	Winner	Runner-up
1934–35	Bombay	Northern India
1935–36	Bombay	Madras
1936–37	Nawanagar	Bengal
1937–38	Hyderabad	Nawanagar
1938–39	Bengal	Southern Punjab
1939–40	Maharashtra	United Provinces
1940–41	Maharashtra	Madras
1941–42	Bombay	Mysore
1942–43	Baroda	Hyderabad
1943–44	Western India	Bengal
1944–45	Bombay	Holkar
1945–46	Holkar	Baroda
1946–47	Baroda	Holkar
1947–48	Holkar	Bombay
1948–49	Bombay	Baroda
1949–50	Baroda	Holkar
1950–51	Holkar	Gujarat
1951–52	Bombay	Holkar
1952–53	Holkar	Bengal
1953–54	Bombay	Holkar
1954–55	Madras	Holkar
1955–56	Bombay	Bengal
1956–57	Bombay	Services
1957–58	Baroda	Services
1958–59	Bombay	Bengal
1959–60	Bombay	Mysore
1960–61	Bombay	Rajasthan
1961–62	Bombay	Rajasthan
1962–63	Bombay	Rajasthan
1963–64	Bombay	Rajasthan
1964–65	Bombay	Hyderabad
1965–66	Bombay	Rajasthan
1966–67	Bombay	Rajasthan
1967–68	Bombay	Madras
1968–69	Bombay	Bengal
1969–70	Bombay	Rajasthan
1970–71	Bombay	Maharashtra
1971–72	Bombay	Bengal
1972–73	Bombay	Tamil Nadu
1973–74	Karnataka	Rajasthan
1974–75	Bombay	Karnataka
1975–76	Bombay	Bihar
1976–77	Bombay	Delhi
1977–78	Karnataka	Uttar Pradesh
1978–79	Delhi	Karnataka
1979–80	Delhi	Bombay
1980–81	Bombay	Delhi
1981–82	Delhi	Karnataka
1982–83	Karnataka	Bombay
1983–84	Bombay	Delhi
1984–85	Bombay	Delhi
1985–86	Delhi	Haryana
1986–87	Hyderabad	Delhi
1987–88	Tamil Nadu	Railways
1988–89	Delhi	Bengal
1989–90	Bengal	Delhi
1990–91	Haryana	Bombay
1991–92	Delhi	Tamil Nadu
1992–93	Punjab	Maharashtra
1993–94	Bombay	Bengal
1994–95	Bombay	Punjab
1995–96	Karnataka	Tamil Nadu
1996–97	Mumbai	Delhi
1997–98	Karnataka	Uttar Pradesh
1998–99	Karnataka	Madhya Pradesh
1999–00	Mumbai	Hyderabad
2000–01	Baroda	Railways
2001–02	Railways	Baroda
2002–03	Mumbai	Tamil Nadu
2003–04	Mumbai	Tamil Nadu
2004–05	Railways	Punjab
2005–06	Uttar Pradesh	Bengal
2006–07	Mumbai	Bengal
2007–08	Delhi	Uttar Pradesh
2008–09	Mumbai	Uttar Pradesh
2009–10	Mumbai	Karnataka
2010–11	Rajasthan	Baroda
2011–12	Rajasthan	Tamil Nadu
2012–13	Mumbai	Saurashtra
2013–14	Karnataka	Maharashtra
2014–15	Karnataka	Tamil Nadu
2015–16	Mumbai	Saurashtra
2016–17	Gujarat	Mumbai
2017–18	Vidarbha	Delhi
2018–19	Vidarbha	Saurashtra
2019–20	Saurashtra	Bengal
2020–21	Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22	Madhya Pradesh	Mumbai
2022–23	Saurashtra	Bengal

Finals appearances by team

Mumbai/Bombay have played in 46 of the 86 finals till 2016–17 and have won total 41 Ranji Trophy championships, the most by any team.

Team	Winner	Runner-up	Win %	Last win
Mumbai / Bombay	41	6	87.2	2016
Karnataka / Mysore	8	6	57.1	2015
Delhi	7	8	46.7	2008
Madhya Pradesh / Holkar	5	7	41.7	2022
Baroda	5	4	55.6	2001
Saurashtra	2	3	40	2023
Vidarbha	2	0	100.0	2019
Bengal	2	13	13.33	1990
Tamil Nadu / Madras	2	10	16.7	1988
Rajasthan	2	8	20.0	2012
Hyderabad	2	3	40.0	1987
Maharashtra	2	3	40.0	1941
Railways	2	2	50.0	2005
Uttar Pradesh / United Provinces	1	5	16.7	2006
Punjab / Southern Punjab	1	3	25.0	1993
Haryana	1	1	50.0	1991
Gujarat	1	1	50.0	2017
Nawanagar	1	1	50	1937
Western India	1	0	100	1944
Services	0	2	00.0
Bihar	0	1	00.0
Northern India	0	1	00.0

Broadcasting

Star sports 2 HD, Disney+ Hotstar app airs this trophy live on television and online respectively. BCCI’s website runs match highlights.

In popular culture

• The tournament was featured in Jersey, a 2019 Telugu film, in which the protagonist Arjun represents the Hyderabad cricket team in the Ranji Trophy in the 1980s and 1990s.