Ranji Trophy 2024

The Ranji Trophy is India's premier first-class competition. The tournament is organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Teams representing state and regional associations participate in the Ranji Trophy tournament.

Talking about the Ranji Trophy history, the BCCI founded the competition in the year 1934 and the first edition was played in the 1934-35 season. The tournament was originally named 'The Cricket Championship of India' but was renamed before the 1935-36 season.

In the inaugural edition of the Ranji Trophy, 15 teams participated. The teams were divided into four zones and the tournament was played in a knockout format. Mysore and Madras played against each other in the first-ever Ranji Trophy game that was played on 4 November 1934.

Madras defeated Mysore by an innings and 23 runs inside a day and the game still remains the only Ranji Trophy match to be completed in a single day. Bombay (now Mumbai) went on to win the first edition of the tournament by defeating Northern India in the final.

Coming to the Ranji Trophy team list,  38 teams play in the tournament at present. 28 states, 4 of the 8 union territories, 4 regional associations, and 2 pan-India associations participate in the tournament.

The 4 union territories are - Delhi, Chandigarh, Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir while the 4 regional associations are - Mumbai, Vidarbha (both within Maharashtra), Saurashtra, and Baroda (both within Gujarat). The 2 pan-India associations are - Services representing the Indian armed forces and Railways representing Indian railways.

Talking about the Ranji Trophy format, the teams have been contesting in three since the 2018-19 season. Elite Groups A and B are in the top tier while Elite Group C forms the second tier.

The Plate Group forms the lower tier. From the top tier, five teams qualify for the quarterfinal while two teams advance ahead of the group stage from the second tier. From the lower tier, only one team makes it to the quarterfinal.

The round-robin matches in the Ranji Trophy are four days in length. On the other hand, the knockout matches are played for five days. If the teams fail to register an outright win in a knockout game, the team with the first innings lead is declared the winner.

An outright win earns a team 6 points during the round-robin stage. The teams also get a bonus point for an inning or 10-wicket win. In a drawn match, a team with the first innings lead gets 3 points while the other team gets 1 point.

In case of a no result, both teams get one point each. Both the teams also get one point each if they score the same amount of runs in the first innings and the game ends in a draw. The Ranji Trophy points table is a reflection of a team's performance and one can follow Cricket Addictor to get the latest updates on the points table.

Mumbai is the most decorated team in the history of the Ranji Trophy. While no other team has even managed to win 10 titles, they have won a staggering 42 titles. Karnataka are second in the list of most titles with 8 wins to their name. The only other teams to win 5 or more Ranji Trophy titles are Delhi (7) and Baroda (5).

Talking about Ranji Trophy stats, Wasim Jaffer holds the record for scoring the most runs while Rajinder Goel is the highest wicket-taker in the competition.

Apart from the aforementioned details, our dedicated group of writers also covers every Ranji Trophy news. In our pre-match coverage, we also cover the Ranji Trophy schedule, squads, and match-related articles such as Ranji Trophy fantasy cricket tips.