Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia. The competition is named after Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji (Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, also known as "Ranji").

History

The competition was launched as "The Cricket Championship of India" following a meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in July 1934, with the first fixtures taking place in 1934-35. The trophy was donated by Bhupinder Singh, the Maharajah of Patiala. The first Ranji Trophy Championship was won by Bombay after they defeated North India in the final. Syed Mohammed Hadi of Hyderabad was the first batsman to score a century in the tournament.

Mumbai (formerly Bombay) have been the dominant team in the Championship so far, with 37 wins, including 15 back-to-back wins from 1958-59 to 1972-73.

Format

Most of the teams playing in the Ranji Trophy represent states of India. However, there are teams that represent individual cities such as Mumbai or Hyderabad. The competition also includes teams that have no regional affiliations, such as Railways and Services.

Up until the 2002-03 season, the teams were grouped into five zones - North, West, East, Central and South - and initial matches were played within the zones on a league basis. The top teams (two until 1991-92, three after that) from each zone played in a national knock-out competition, leading to a final which decided the winner of the tournament.

Starting with the 2002-03 season, the zonal system was abandoned and a two-division structure was adopted: the Elite Group and the Plate Group. For the 2006-07 season, the divisions were re-labelled the Super League and Plate League respectively.

The Super League is divided into two groups of eight and seven teams, while the Plate League is divided into two groups of six teams each. In both divisions, the top two teams from each group advance to the knock-out phase. The finalists from the Plate League are promoted to the Super League the next year while the two teams at the bottom of the Super League are relegated.

Points summary

Points in the league stages of both divisions are awarded as follows:{| class="wikitable"
- bgcolor="#efefef"! colspan="5" | Individual career records
-
Most career runs || 7623 [] ^† || Rajinder Goel || 1958-1985
-^† Some sources credit Goel with 636 or 637 wickets instead — see Rajinder Goel article for details.

Past winners

ee also

*Cricket in India
*History of cricket
*Duleep Trophy
*Irani Trophy
*Deodhar Trophy
*NKP Salve Challenger Trophy

References and notes

External links

* [http://www.crichome.com/ Crichome - News, discussions about League Cricket, Indian Cricket League, Indian Premier League]
* [http://www.runoutt.com/ Breaking Cricket Stories - Discover, Score & Discuss | Runoutt]
* [http://www.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/261615.html The Ranji Trophy - Cricinfo]
* [http://www.cricketfundas.com/ranjitrophy0708hp.html Ranji Super League Scorecards 2007-08]
* [http://www.cricketfundas.com/indiandomestic.html Indian Domestic Tournaments]