Wikipedia - Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI founded the championship in 1934, Since then it has been organised across various grounds and stadiums in India.

The competition currently consists of 38 teams, with all 28 states in India and four of the eight union territories with at least one team from each. When the tournament was founded, it was named "The Cricket Championship of India", in 1935 it was renamed after Ranjitsinhji, who was the first ever Indian to play international cricket. He played for the England from 1896 to 1902.

The Mumbai cricket team is the most successful team of the tournament, with a record 42 wins to their name.

The Mumbai cricket team holds the present title of the 2023–24 edition. It defeated Vidharbha cricket team in the final at the Wankhede stadium, Mumbai.

History

Ranjitsinhji, after whom the tournament is named

The idea of a national level, first class championship tournament was proposed by BCCI's founder A.S. De Mello. The competition was launched following BCCI's meeting at Shimla in July 1934, with the first fixtures taking place in 1934–35 .Initially the tournament was named as 'The cricket championship of India', it later was renamed. The trophy was donated by Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala in memory of Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, Jam Sahib of Nawanagar who had died the previous year. The first match of the competition was held on 4 November 1934 between Madras and Mysore at the Chepauk ground in Madras (Now Chennai). Mumbai (Bombay) has won the tournament the most times with 42 wins including 15 back-to-back wins from 1958–59 to 1972–73.

In 2015 Paytm became the first company to hold the tournament's title sponsorship right by virtue of BCCI's title sponsorship deal.

The 2020–21 Ranji Trophy tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first season since the tournament's inception that it was not held.

India Ranji Trophy er en indisk førsteklasses cricketturnering som ble opprettet i 1934 og er oppkalt etter Kate Maharaja Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji. Turneringen er den eldste og mest prestisjefylte førsteklasses cricketturneringen i India og er den viktigste kvalifiseringsruten til Indiske Premier League (IPL).

Ranji Trophy spilles på tvers av fire forskjellige soner: Nord, Sør, Sentral og Vest, med lag som representerer hver sone i gruppespillet. De tre beste lagene i hver sone går videre til kvartfinalen, hvor de konkurrerer i en utslagsrunde for å kåre den endelige vinneren.

Noen av de mest kjente spillerne som har spilt i Ranji Trophy inkluderer Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev og Virat Kohli. Turneringen har også produsert noen av de mest minneverdige kampene i indisk crickets historie, inkludert finalen i 2001 mellom Mumbai og Railways, som ble vunnet av Railways med bare ett poeng.

Ranji Trophy er en viktig begivenhet i den indiske crickkalenderen og tiltrekker seg fans fra hele landet. Turneringen er ikke bare en mulighet for unge spillere til å vise frem sine talenter, men det er også en feiring av indisk cricket og dens rike historie.