 | |
| Administrator | BCCI |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Mumbai |
| Format | First-class cricket |
| First edition | 1934–35 |
| Latest edition | 2024–25 |
| Tournament format | Round-robin, thenknockout |
| Number of teams | 38 |
| Current champion | Vidarbha (3rd title) |
| Most successful | Mumbai (42 times) |
| Qualification | Irani Cup |
| Most runs | Wasim Jaffer (12,038) 1996–2020 |
| Most wickets | Rajinder Goel (640) 1958–1985 |
| TV | JioHotstar[1] |
| Website | www |
| Longest continuous champion | Mumbai |
 2025–26 | |
TheRanji Trophy is a premier domesticfirst-class cricket championship played inIndia. It is organized annually by theBoard of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Teams representing regional and state cricket associations take part in the tournament. The BCCI founded the championship in 1934, and since then, it has been organised across various grounds and stadiums in India.[2][3][4][5]
The competition currently consists of 38 teams, including at least one team from each of the 28states of India and four of the eightunion territories. When the tournament was founded, it was named "the Cricket Championship of India", in1935 it was renamed afterRanjitsinhji, who was the first Indian to playinternational cricket. He played forEngland from 1896 to 1902.[6][7][a]
TheMumbai cricket team is the most successful team of the tournament, with a record 42 titles to their name.[8]
TheVidarbha cricket team is the current champion after winning the2024–25 final overKerala cricket team at theVidarbha Cricket Association Ground.[9]
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The idea of a national level, first class championship tournament was proposed by BCCI's founderA.S. De Mello.[7] The competition was launched following BCCI's meeting atShimla in July 1934,[10] with the first fixtures taking place in1934–35 .Initially the tournament was named as 'The cricket championship of India', it later was renamed.[7] The trophy was donated byBhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala in memory ofKumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, Jam Sahib of Nawanagar who had died the previous year.[10] The first match of the competition was held on 4 November 1934 betweenMadras andMysore at the Chepauk ground in Madras (NowChennai). Mumbai (Bombay) has won the tournament the most times with 42 wins, including 15 back-to-back wins from1958–59 to1972–73.
In 2015,Paytm became the first company to hold the tournament's title sponsorship right by virtue of BCCI's title sponsorship deal.[11]
The2020–21 Ranji Trophy tournament was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic,[12] the first season since the tournament's inception that it was not held.[13][14]
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State and regional teams with first-class status and owned–operated by BCCI members play in the Ranji Trophy. Most associations are regional such as theMumbai Cricket Association or theKarnataka State Cricket Association, whileRailways andServices are pan-Indian.
All 28states of India are represented, as are four of the eightunion territories:Delhi,Chandigarh,Puducherry, andJammu and Kashmir (which also represents the union territory ofLadakh). In addition, four teams represent regions within states:Mumbai andVidarbha (both withinMaharashtra) andSaurashtra andBaroda (both withinGujarat), though Maharashtra and Gujarat play as separate teams; and there are two pan-Indian teams:Railways, representingIndian Railways, andServices, representing theIndian Armed Forces. The state ofTelangana is represented by theHyderabad cricket team.
The following 38 teams currently participate in the Ranji Trophy:
The following teams have appeared in the Ranji Trophy, but no longer do so, partly because Indian states have merged and created over the years:
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From the Ranji Trophy's inception until the 2001 season (with the exception of1948–49 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 aknock-out basis until 1956–57, and thereafter on aleague 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.[citation needed]
The format was changed in the2002–03 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 the2006–07 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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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 the2016–17 edition, the BCCI decided that all games would be staged at a neutral venues.[23]
Points in the league stages of both divisions are currently awarded as follows:
| Scenario | Points |
|---|---|
| Win outright | 6 |
| Bonus point for inning or 10 wicket win | 1 |
| First innings lead in adrawn match | 3 |
| No result | 1 |
| Tie in first inning's score in adrawn match | 1 |
| Loss on the first innings | 1 |
| Lost outright | 0 |
| Tie on both innings | 3 |
| Team records[24] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Most trophies wins | 42 | Mumbai | 1934–2024 |
| Highest team score | 935/5 dec. | Hyderabad vAndhra | 1993–94[25] |
| Lowest team score | 21 | Hyderabad vRajasthan | 2010[26] |
| Individual match records[24] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highest individual innings | 443* | B. B. Nimbalkar | Maharashtra vKathiawar | 1948–49[27] |
| Best innings bowling | 10/20 | Premangsu Chatterjee | Bengal vAssam | 1956–57[28] |
| Best match bowling | 16/99 | Anil Kumble | Karnataka vKerala | 1994–95[29] |
| Individual season records[30] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 69 | Harsh Dubey | Vidarbha | 2024-25 |
| Individual career records | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most career matches | 155 | Wasim Jaffer | 1996–2020 | |
| Most career runs | 12,038[31] | Wasim Jaffer | 1996–2020 | |
| Most career centuries | 40[31] | Wasim Jaffer | 1996–2020 | |
| Highest career batting average | 98.35[32] | Vijay Merchant | 1934–51 | |
| Most career wickets | 640†[33] | Rajinder Goel | 1958–85 | |
† Some sources credit Goel with 636 or 640 wickets instead – seeRajinder Goel article for details.
The following teams have won the tournament:[10]
Mumbai/Bombay have played in 48 finals and have won total 42 Ranji Trophy championships, the most by any team.
| Team | Winner | Runner-up | Win % | Last win |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mumbai / Bombay | 42 | 6 | 87.5 | 2024 |
| 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 /Western India /Nawanagar | 4 | 4 | 50 | 2023 |
| Vidarbha | 3 | 1 | 75 | 2025 |
| Bengal | 2 | 13 | 13.33 | 1990 |
| Tamil Nadu / Madras | 2 | 10 | 16.7 | 1988 |
| Rajasthan / Rajputana | 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 | 1993 |
| Haryana | 1 | 1 | 50.0 | 1991 |
| Gujarat | 1 | 1 | 50.0 | 2017 |
| Services | 0 | 2 | 0.0 | |
| Bihar | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | |
| Northern India | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | |
| Kerala | 0 | 1 | 0.0 |
Sports18 TV channel andJioCinema has exclusive rights to broadcast the trophy live on television and online respectively.[34] BCCI's website runs match highlights.Star Sports andDisney+ Hotstar broadcast the tournament until 2022.[35][4]
| Category | Matches played | Salary Per match |
|---|---|---|
| Seniors | 40 or more | ₹2.4 lakh |
| Mid Seniors | 20-39 | ₹2 lakh |
| Juniors | Under 20 | ₹1.6 lakh |
Ranji Trophy
Other top domestic cricket tournaments of the BCCI
Other
