Ranji Trophy

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was established on 1 December 1928 at Madras.^[2][3] Anthony de Mello, one of the founders of the BCCI,^[4][5] proposed the idea of a national level, first-class cricket championship during a meeting of the BCCI at Shimla in July 1934.^[6][7] Fifteen teams contested in the inaugural edition of the championship in 1934-35.^[6] The first match of the competition was held on 4 November 1934 between Madras and Mysore at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium at Madras, and was completed on a single day.^[6][8][9]

Initially, the inaugural tournament was named as the "Cricket Championship of India". Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, donated the trophy for the tournament, and suggested that it be named after Ranjitsinhji, the first Indian to play international cricket.^[b] The championship was renamed as "Ranji Trophy" ahead of the second season in 1935-36.^[6][7] The tournament has been held annually since its inception with the only exception in 2020-21, when the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[10][11]

From the inception of the championship in 1934-35 to the 2001-02 season, the teams were grouped geographically into four or five zones – North, West, East, and South, with the Central zone added in 1952-53.^[12] The number of teams in each zone varied across the seasons. In the 1948-49 Ranji Trophy, the 16 teams were grouped into one single group, as an exception.^[13] Initially, the matches were played on a knock-out basis until 1956-57, and thereafter on a league basis to determine a winner of each zonal group. The zonal winners competed in a knock-out round, leading to a final that decided the winner of the Ranji Trophy. From the 1970–71 season, the knock-out stage was expanded to accommodate top two teams from each zone, for a total of ten qualifying teams. This was expanded again to include the top three from each zone in 1992–93 for 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.^[14]

Ahead of the 2002–03 season, the zonal system was replaced by a two-tiered league comprising the Elite (higher tier) and Plate Groups (lower tier). The 15 teams in the Elite tier were divided into two sub-groups and played against the other teams in the group, with the winner of each sub-group competing for the title, while the bottom teams were relegated to the Plate Group for the next season. The 12 teams in the lower tier were organised into two groups, and played a round-robin tournament, with the winners earning promotion to the Elite Group for the next season.^[6][12][14] In the 2008–09 season, the format was adjusted to give the top teams from the Plate League groups to join the top three from each Super League (top tier) sub-group in an eight-team knock-out tournament, the winner was which was crowned the champion.^[12]

From the 2012–13 season, the format was altered with the 18 teams in the top tier divided into two groups (Groups A and B) of nine teams, who competed in eight matches (four at home and four away), while the second tier (Group C) had nine teams in a single group. The top three teams from Groups A and B and the top two from Group C contested the knockout phase. The lowest placed team in each of top tier groups was relegated to Group C, and the top two from Group C are promoted to the top tier.^[15] In the 2007-08 Ranji Trophy, 2008-09, and 2014-15 seasons, knockout-stage matches were held at neutral venues.^[16] In the 2016–17, all the matches were played at neutral venues. However, this was abandoned for the next season, in which the two-tier system was done away with and the teams were grouped into four groups of seven teams each with the top two qualifying for the quarter-finalis.^[12][17] From the 2018–19 season, the tournament had 37 teams, which were organised into three-tiers with five teams qualifying for the quarter-finals from the top tier (known as Elite Group A and Group B). Two teams from the second-tier (Elite Group C) and one team from the lower-tier (Plate Group) joined them in the quarter-finals.^[6][18]

The matches, which were played for three days during the inaugural season, was later held as four-day matches in the group stage, and five-day matches in knock-outs with a possible sixth day for the final in some seasons.^[15][19] In the group stages, teams have generally been awarded points for a win, and if the match did not yield a result, both the teams got points, with the team accumulating the lead in the first innings, being awarded the higher number of points. In the knockout stages, if there is no outright result, the team leading after the first innings is declared the winner.^[12][19]

Teams representing the various member associations of the BCCI take part in the tournament. There were 15 teams took part in the first tournament, Army, Bombay, Central India, Central Provinces and Berar, Delhi, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Madras, Maharashtra, Mysore, Northern India, Southern Punjab, Sind, United Provinces, and Western India.^[6][12] The teams that took part in the Ranji Trophy changed over the years, with the Partition of India in 1947, Reorganisation of Indian states in 1956, and the formation of new Indian states and territories.^[12][13] The tournament had 18 teams by 1936–37 season, and increased to 20 teams by 1947–48 season. By the 1959–60 season, 24 teams took part in the tournament, and which increased to 26 in 1985–86 season. Jharkhand joined for the 2004–05 season and Chhattisgarh took part for the first time in 2016–17.^[13] For the 2016–17 Ranji Trophy, nine new teams were added, based on the Lodha Committee recommendations.^[21] Chandigarh took part for the first time in 2019–20 season, taking the number to 38 teams.^[22]

As of the 2025–26 edition, 38 teams continued to take part in the tournament.^[23] There is at least one team representing each of the 28 states and five of the eight union territories.^[a] Hyderabad became the representative of the Telangana state formed in 2013. Apart from these 32 teams,^[a] Baroda, Mumbai, Saurashtra and Vidarbha, which are remnants from the teams fielded by the erstwhile territories and princely states before the Indian independence, continue to take part in the competition. Apart from this, Railways, and Services have representative teams in the competition..^[23][24] Despite the Lodha committee recommendation to have one team representing each state or union territory, a ruling by the Supreme Court of India in 2018, resulted in the continuing participation of these teams.^[24]

Teams are selected by selection panels of respective member associations using player trials and past performance amongst others.^[35] Every association is allowed to register up to 50 players, who can be selected to the squad during the tournament. The registration and announcement of teams usually close a week before the start of the tournament. If a player has played for a different team in the past, and wishes to switch teams, he is required to get an approval from the BCCI and a no objection certificate from the previous association.^[36]

^† Some sources credit Goel with 636 or 640 wickets instead.

Star Sports Network television channels and JioHotstar hold the rights to broadcast the trophy on television and online respectively.^[49] Match highlights are streamed on the official website of the BCCI.^[50]

• The tournament featured in the 2019 Telugu film Jersey, in which the protagonist Arjun represents the Hyderabad cricket team in the Ranji Trophy in the 1980s and 1990s.^[51]

• Deodhar Trophy
• Duleep Trophy
• Irani Cup^[o]
• Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
• Vijay Hazare Trophy