The national premier cricket championship, Ranji Trophy is played among different states in India. The first match was played in 1934 between Madras and Mysore at Chepauk stadium. The series is known for producing some of the best Indian cricketers, who get a chance to be selected in the national team based on their performance.
Ranji Trophy History
Named after prince turned professional cricketer Ranjitsinhji who started playing for England cricket team, the Ranjit Trophy was announced in 1934 as premier domestic cricket series. Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, the ruler of Patiala donated the first trophy of the series. The trophy gained immense popularity over the years and earned itself a status equivalent to England’s country cricket. The format of the game has undergone many changes over the years and presently has adopted a two-tier format. One feature that separates Ranji Trophy from other series is that along with regional cricket boards of various states, government teams like Railways and other government entities also take part in the series.
Teams
The trophy’s first season in 1934-1935 started with zonal teams like Central Provinces and Berar, Northern India, Sind, Southern Punjab and Western India as participants. In 2002-2003, the format of the game changed and the zonal system was discarded. A two division structure was adopted which had two groups: the Elite Group (with 15 teams) and the Plate Group (with the remaining teams).
Again in 2017-2018, the two division structure was scrapped and four groups of seven teams each was created along with two quarter-finalists from each group. In the last season 2018-2019, some of the participating teams were Gujarat, Mumbai, Delhi, Kerala, Assam, Rajasthan, Services, Railways among total 37 teams. The season was won by Vidarbha. Mumbai team holds the maximum number of wins of the tournament totaling upto 41.
Ranji Trophy Records
Ranji Trophy has seen some of the best performances in its history of 85 years.
- Wasim Jaffer from Vidarbha has set the record of scoring the maximum runs at 11775 and he has also set the record of scoring the maximum of 40 centuries during his career span from 1996/97 to 2018/19.
- The maximum number of wickets records was achieved by Rajinder Goel from Delhi at 637 during his career span from 1958/59 to 1984/85.
- The best bowling figure in an inning was accomplished by Premangsu Chatterjee from Bengal at 10/20 in the season 1956/57.
- Ravi Sehgal and Raman Lamba of Delhi team succeeded in setting the record for highest partnership wicket at 464 runs in the season 1994/95.
- Ashutosh Aman from Bihar got famous for taking most wickets upto 68 in season 2018/19.
- V.V. S. Laxman from Hyderabad scored the maximum runs upto 1415 in the season 1999/00.
Best Players
Since the Trophy is renowned for bringing the best talent on the field, some of the best performing players since the trophy’s existence are:
- Wasim Jaffer – With 10143 runs in his kitty, Jaffer is the only batsman to achieve more than 10,000 runs in the trophy.
- Sitanshu Kotak – This left handed batsmen has scored 7607 runs in his career of 20 years. His performance has been so consistent that he has accomplished three consecutive half centuries in his last 5 innings.
- Anil Kumble – This ace spinner playing from Karnataka showcased his stellar performance by picking 16 wickets for 99 runs against Kerala
Latest Season
The latest season 2018-2019 got over in February 2019. In the 85th season, Vidarbha defeated Saurashtra by 78 runs and became 6 times winner in the tournament. In 2018, the BCCI reintroduced Bihar, Manipur, Mizoram, Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim making the total teams to 37. The three month long season also witnessed some record breaking performances:
- Milind Kumar achieved a total of 1331 runs in 14 innings at an impressive average of 121 and 91.66 strike rate.
- Puneet Bisht from Meghalaya achieved 343 runs making his score the ninth highest in the history of the tournament.
- Ashutosh Aman, left armed bowler from Bihar bagged 68 wickets in 14 innings at a remarkable average of 6.48 and 20.4 strike rate. He has gone onto to break Bishan Singh Bedi’s record for maximum wickets in sole season.
- Among best team performances, Uttarakhand finished with highest batting average above 50. On the other hand, Rajasthan became the best bowling with a bowling average of less than 30 and strike rate of 30s.
The Ranji Trophy has emerged to be one of the first class tournaments hosted by BCCI and attracts big giants as it sponsors. Currently, Paytm is the title sponsor and Star Sports have the league’s broadcasting rights.
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