Ranji Trophy

For the current tournament, see 2016–17 Ranji Trophy.
Ranji Trophy
Countries  India
Administrator BCCI
Format First-class cricket
First tournament 1934
Tournament format Round-robin then knockout
Number of teams 28
Current champion Mumbai (41st title)
Most successful Mumbai (41 titles)
Qualification Irani Cup
Most runs Wasim Jaffer (10143)
1996-present
Most wickets Rajinder Goel (640)
1958–1985
2016–17 Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between teams representing regional cricket associations. The competition currently consists of 27 teams, with 21 of the 29 states in India and Delhi (which is an Union Territory), having at least one representation. The competition is named after first Indian Cricketer who played international cricket, Ranjitsinhji who was also known as "Ranji". He played for England and Sussex.

Mumbai is the current Ranji champion, having beaten Saurashtra by an innings and 21 runs in the finals of the 2015–16 season held in Pune.

History

Ranjitsinhji, after whom the tournament is named

The competition was launched as "The Cricket Championship of India" following a meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in July 1934, with the first fixtures taking place in 1934–35. The trophy was donated by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. The first match of the competition was held on 4 November 1934 between Madras and Mysore at Chepauk.[1] M. J. Gopalan of Madras bowled the first ball to N. Curtis. The first Ranji Trophy Championship was won by Bombay after they defeated North India in the final. Mumbai (formerly Bombay) have won the tournament the most number of times with 41 wins including 15 back-to-back wins from 1958–59 to 1972–73.

Participants

State teams and cricket associations and clubs with first-class status are qualified to play in the Ranji Trophy. While most associations are regional, like the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and Mumbai Cricket Association, two, Railways and Services, are pan-Indian.

Current teams

The following 28 teams currently participate in the Ranji Trophy:

The team from Chhattisgarh will take part in the tournament beginning in 2016–17.

Defunct teams

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

Format

From its inception until the 2001–02 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.

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.

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[2]
Most wins 41 Mumbai
Highest team score 944/6 decl. Hyderabad v Andhra 1993–94 [3]
Lowest team score 21 Hyderabad v Rajasthan 2010 [4]
Individual match records[2]
Highest individual innings 443* B. B. Nimbalkar Maharashtra v Kathiawar 1948–49 [5]
Best innings bowling 10/20 Premangsu Chatterjee Bengal v Assam 1956–57 [6]
Best match bowling 16/99 Anil Kumble Karnataka v Kerala 1994–95 [7]
Individual season records[8]
Most runs in a season 1415 V. V. S. Laxman Hyderabad 1999–2000
Most centuries in a season 8 V. V. S. Laxman Hyderabad 1999–2000
Most wickets in a season 64 Bishan Bedi Delhi 1974–75
Individual career records
Most career runs 10143[9] Wasim Jaffer 1996–present
Most career centuries 32[10] Wasim Jaffer 1996–present
Highest career batting average 98.35[11] Vijay Merchant 1934–51
Most career wickets 637[12]† Rajinder Goel 1958–85

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

Winners

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 TBD TBD

Finals appearances by team

Bombay/Mumbai have played in 45 of the 82 finals till 2015-16 and have won 41 Ranji Trophy championships, the most by any team.

Team Wins Appearances Win % Last win
Bombay/Mumbai 41 45 91.1 2016
Karnataka/Mysore 8 14 57.1 2015
Delhi 7 14 50.0 2008
Baroda 5 9 55.6 2001
Madhya Pradesh/Holkar 4 11 36.4 1953
Bengal 2 13 15.4 1990
Tamil Nadu/Madras 2 12 16.7 1988
Rajasthan 2 10 20.0 2012
Hyderabad 2 5 40.0 1987
Maharashtra 2 5 40.0 1941
Railways 2 4 50.0 2005
Western India/Nawanagar/Saurashtra 2 4 50.0 1944
Haryana 1 2 50.0 1991
Punjab 1 4 25.0 1993
Uttar Pradesh/United Provinces 1 6 16.7 2006
Services 0 2 00.0
Bihar 0 1 00.0
Gujarat 0 1 00.0
Northern India 0 1 00.0

See also

References and notes

  1. ↑ Madras v Mysore
  2. 1 2 Compiled from Overall First-Class Records at CricketArchive.
  3. ↑ The Home of CricketArchive. Cricketarchive.co.uk (1994-01-11). Retrieved on 2013-12-06.
  4. ↑ The Home of CricketArchive. Cricketarchive.co.uk (1935-02-06). Retrieved on 2013-12-06.
  5. ↑ The Home of CricketArchive. Cricketarchive.co.uk (1948-12-18). Retrieved on 2013-12-06.
  6. ↑ The Home of CricketArchive. Cricketarchive.co.uk (1957-01-29). Retrieved on 2013-12-06.
  7. ↑ The Home of CricketArchive. Cricketarchive.co.uk (1995-01-17). Retrieved on 2013-12-06.
  8. ↑ From Indian Cricket 2004, published by The Hindu, 2004.
  9. ↑ "Most Runs in Ranji Trophy". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Partab Ramchand (19 February 2000). "Wasim Jaffer in elite company". Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 February 2007.
  11. ↑ Partab Ramchand (19 February 2000). "Ajay Sharma in elite company". Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 February 2007.
  12. ↑ Anil Gulati (30 June 2001). "I was born at the wrong time: Rajinder Goel". Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 February 2007.
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