2021–22 Ranji Trophy
Cricket tournament
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The 2021–22 Ranji Trophy was the 87th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India.[1][2] The tournament was split into two phases, with the league stage being played from 17 February to 15 March 2022,[3] and the knockout phase played from 6 to 26 June 2022.[4][5] Due to the delayed start of the tournament because of the COVID-19 pandemic, teams were split into eight Elite groups, instead of five as per previous editions, and the Plate Group.[6] The seven teams that won their Elite Group with the best points progressed to the knockout phase. They were joined by the winner of the pre-quarter-final match between the Elite Group winning team with the fewest points and the winner of the Plate Group.[7]
The Ranji Trophy, awarded to the winners | |
| Dates | 17 February – 26 June 2022 |
|---|---|
| Administrator | BCCI |
| Cricket format | First-class cricket |
| Tournament format | Round-robin then knockout |
| Host |  India |
| Champions | Madhya Pradesh (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Mumbai |
| Participants | 38 |
| Matches | 65 |
| Player of the series | Sarfaraz Khan (Mumbai) |
| Most runs | Sarfaraz Khan (982) (Mumbai) |
| Most wickets | Shams Mulani (45) (Mumbai) |
In the opening round of fixtures, Sakibul Gani of Bihar became the first player to score a triple century on their first-class debut.[8] In their Plate Group match against Mizoram, he scored 341 runs.[9]
Following the conclusion of the group stage, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Karnataka, Mumbai, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh had all won their respective groups to qualify for the quarter-finals. Jharkhand won Group H and Nagaland won the Plate Group to advance to the preliminary quarter-final match.[10] In the first innings of the preliminary quarter-final, Jharkhand were bowled out for 880 runs, the fourth-highest team total in the Ranji Trophy.[11] Jharkhand then extended their lead to 1,008 runs, the biggest ever lead in first-class cricket, progressing to the quarter-finals based on their first innings lead.[12] Mumbai,[13] Uttar Pradesh[14] and Madhya Pradesh[15] all won their quarter-final matches to advance to the semi-finals. Bengal also reached the semi-finals, after they drew their match against Jharkhand, progressing in the tournament due to having a first-innings lead.[16]
In the first semi-final, Madhya Pradesh beat Bengal by 174 runs to reach their first final in the tournament since the 1998–99 edition.[17] The second semi-final, between Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh was drawn, with Mumbai advancing to the final on their first-innings lead.[18] In the final, Madhya Pradesh beat Mumbai by six wickets to win their first Ranji Trophy title.[n 1][19][20] It qualified for the 2023-24 Irani Cup.
Background
The 2021–22 Ranji Trophy was initially scheduled to take place from 13 January to 20 March 2022.[21] The previous edition of the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[22] However, on 4 January 2022, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed that the tournament had been postponed due to an increase of COVID-19 cases in India.[23][24] The BCCI announced that they would try to host the league stage of the Ranji Trophy before the start of the 2022 Indian Premier League in April.[25] Later in January 2022, the BCCI said that they were looking at the possibility of holding the tournament in two phases, from February to March, and June to July.[26]
Originally, the tournament was scheduled to start on 16 November 2021,[1] but was later postponed to 5 January 2022[27] and again to 13 January 2022.[21] As per previous editions, the tournament would have been divided into six groups, with six teams in five Elite Groups and eight teams in the Plate Group.[28] The winners of each Elite Group would have progressed directly to the quarter-finals, with the second-placed teams and the winner of the Plate Group playing in pre-quarters matches to determine the final eight teams.[29]
Teams
League stage
Group A
Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo
Advances to Quarter-final
Group B
Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo
Advances to Quarter-final Group C
Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo
Advances to Quarter-final Group D
Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo
Advances to Quarter-final Group E
Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo
Advances to Quarter-final |
Group F
Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo
Advances to Quarter-final Group G
Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo
Advances to Quarter-final Group H
Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo
Advances to Preliminary quarter-final Plate Group
Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo
Advances to Preliminary quarter-final |
Knockout stage
| Preliminary QF | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||||||
| H1 | Jharkhand | 298 | |||||||||||||||||
| H1 | Jharkhand | 880 & 417/6 | B1 | Bengal | 773/7d & 318/7d | ||||||||||||||
| P1 | Nagaland | 289 | B1 | Bengal | 273 & 175 | ||||||||||||||
| A1 | Madhya Pradesh | 341 & 281 | |||||||||||||||||
| F1 | Punjab | 219 & 203 | |||||||||||||||||
| A1 | Madhya Pradesh | 397 & 26/0 | |||||||||||||||||
| A1 | Madhya Pradesh | 536 & 108/4 | |||||||||||||||||
| D1 | Mumbai | 374 & 269 | |||||||||||||||||
| D1 | Mumbai | 647/8d & 261/3d | |||||||||||||||||
| E1 | Uttarakhand | 114 & 69 | |||||||||||||||||
| D1 | Mumbai | 393 & 533/4d | |||||||||||||||||
| G1 | Uttar Pradesh | 180 | |||||||||||||||||
| C1 | Karnataka | 253 & 114 | |||||||||||||||||
| G1 | Uttar Pradesh | 155 & 213/5 | |||||||||||||||||
Preliminary quarter-final
12–16 March 2022 Scorecard |
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- Nagaland won the toss and elected to field.
- Kumar Kushagra (Jharkhand) scored his maiden century and his maiden double century in first-class cricket.[31] He broke Javed Miandad's (Pak) record to become the youngest batsman to score 250+ runs in a first-class innings (17 years, 141 days).[32]
- Jharkhand made their highest team total in a first-class cricket match.[33]
Quarter-finals
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- Jharkhand won the toss and elected to field.
- Sudip Kumar Gharami (Bengal) scored his maiden century in first-class cricket.[34]
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- Uttar Pradesh won the toss and elected to field.
- Prince Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) made his first-class debut.
Semi-finals
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- Madhya Pradesh won the toss and elected to bat.
v |
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- Uttar Pradesh won the toss and elected to field.
Final
Statistics
Most runs
| Runs | Player | Match | Innings | Average | Highest score | 100 | 50 | Team |
| 982 | Sarfaraz Khan | 6 | 9 | 122.75 | 275 | 4 | 2 | Mumbai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 658 | Rajat Patidar | 6 | 9 | 53.15 | 142 | 2 | 5 | Madhya Pradesh |
| 623 | Chetan Bist | 4 | 6 | 311.50 | 155* | 5 | 0 | Nagaland |
| 614 | Yash Dubey | 6 | 10 | 76.75 | 289 | 2 | 1 | Madhya Pradesh |
| 608 | Shubham Sharma | 6 | 9 | 76.00 | 116 | 4 | 1 | Madhya Pradesh |
Most wickets
| Wickets | Player | Match | Innings | Average | Best | 5-fer | 10-fer | Team |
| 45 | Shams Mulani | 6 | 11 | 16.75 | 7/114 | 6 | 2 | Mumbai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | Kumar Kartikeya | 6 | 11 | 21.00 | 6/50 | 3 | 0 | Madhya Pradesh |
| 25 | Shahbaz Nadeem | 5 | 9 | 24.96 | 5/58 | 3 | 1 | Jharkhand |
| 23 | Gaurav Yadav | 5 | 10 | 18.91 | 5/11 | 1 | 0 | Madhya Pradesh |
| 21 | Satyajeet Bachhav | 3 | 5 | 19.61 | 7/45 | 2 | 1 | Maharashtra |
Broadcasters
Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar aired selective matches on TV and internet respectively. BCCI's website broadcast highlights and scores.
Notes
- Madhya Pradesh previously competed in the Ranji Trophy as Holkar cricket team, winning the tournament four times between 1945–46 and 1952–53. This was their first win as Madhya Pradesh.