2021–22 Ranji Trophy

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]

2021–22 Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy, awarded to the winners
Dates	17 February – 26 June 2022
Administrator(s)	BCCI
Cricket format	First-class cricket
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin then knockout
Host(s)	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)
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

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

The teams were placed in the following groups:^[30]

Group A (Rajkot)	Group B (Cuttack)	Group C (Chennai)	Group D (Ahmedabad)	Group E (Trivandrum)
Gujarat Kerala Madhya Pradesh Meghalaya	Bengal Baroda Hyderabad Chandigarh	Jammu & Kashmir Karnataka Pondicherry Railways	Goa Mumbai Odisha Saurashtra	Andhra Rajasthan Services Uttarakhand
Group F (Delhi)	Group G (Haryana)	Group H (Guwahati)	Plate Group (Kolkata)
Haryana Himachal Pradesh Punjab Tripura	Assam Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh Vidarbha	Chhattisgarh Delhi Jharkhand Tamil Nadu	Arunachal Pradesh Bihar Manipur Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim

League stage

Group A Main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group A Pos Team v t e Pld W L T D NR Pts Quot 1 Madhya Pradesh 3 2 0 0 1 0 14 2.147 2 Kerala 3 2 0 0 1 0 14 1.648 3 Gujarat 3 1 2 0 0 0 7 1.105 4 Meghalaya 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0.234 Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo   Advances to Quarter-final   Relegated to Plate Group next season Group B Main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group B Pos Team v t e Pld W L T D NR Pts Quot 1 Bengal 3 3 0 0 0 0 18 1.308 2 Hyderabad 3 2 1 0 0 0 12 1.196 3 Baroda 3 0 2 0 1 0 3 0.938 4 Chandigarh 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 0.694 Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo   Advances to Quarter-final Group C Main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group C Pos Team v t e Pld W L T D NR Pts Quot 1 Karnataka 3 2 0 0 1 0 16 1.681 2 Railways 3 1 0 0 2 0 10 1.324 3 Jammu & Kashmir 3 1 2 0 0 0 6 0.782 4 Pondicherry 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 0.548 Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo   Advances to Quarter-final Group D Main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group D Pos Team v t e Pld W L T D NR Pts Quot 1 Mumbai 3 2 0 0 1 0 16 1.893 2 Saurashtra 3 2 0 0 1 0 14 1.441 3 Odisha 3 0 2 0 1 0 3 0.453 4 Goa 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 0.791 Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo   Advances to Quarter-final Group E Main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group E Pos Team v t e Pld W L T D NR Pts Quot 1 Uttarakhand 3 2 1 0 0 0 12 1.398 2 Andhra Pradesh 3 1 1 0 1 0 9 1.183 3 Services 3 1 1 0 1 0 8 0.872 4 Rajasthan 3 1 2 0 0 0 6 0.723 Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo   Advances to Quarter-final

Group F Main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group F Pos Team v t e Pld W L T D NR Pts Quot 1 Punjab 3 2 0 0 1 0 16 1.466 2 Haryana 3 1 1 0 1 0 9 1.102 3 Himachal Pradesh 3 1 1 0 1 0 8 1.006 4 Tripura 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 0.581 Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo   Advances to Quarter-final Group G Main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group G Pos Team v t e Pld W L T D NR Pts Quot 1 Uttar Pradesh 3 2 0 0 1 0 13 0.953 2 Vidarbha 3 1 0 0 2 0 12 2.116 3 Maharashtra 3 1 1 0 1 0 8 0.898 4 Assam 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0.645 Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo   Advances to Quarter-final Group H Main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group H Pos Team v t e Pld W L T D NR Pts Quot 1 Jharkhand 3 2 1 0 0 0 12 0.958 2 Chhattisgarh 3 1 0 0 2 0 10 0.906 3 Tamil Nadu 3 0 1 0 2 0 6 1.035 4 Delhi 3 0 1 0 2 0 2 1.069 Updated to match(es) played on 6 March 2022. Source: ESPN Cricinfo   Advances to Preliminary quarter-final Plate Group Main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Plate Group Pos Team v t e Pld W L T D NR BP Pts Quot 1 Nagaland 3 3 0 0 0 0 1 19 2.304 2 Manipur 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 10 1.062 3 Sikkim 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 9 1.227 4 Arunachal Pradesh 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 6 0.571 5 Bihar 3 0 1 0 2 0 -2 4 1.249 6 Mizoram 3 0 1 0 2 0 -4 2 0.466 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

Jharkhand	v	Nagaland
880 (203.4 overs) Kumar Kushagra 266 (269) Imliwati Lemtur 4/179 (51.4 overs)		289 (103.3 overs) Chetan Bist 122* (253) Shahbaz Nadeem 3/70 (36.3 overs)
417/6 (90.3 overs) Anukul Roy 153 (164) Rongsen Jonathan 3/109 (23.3 overs)

Match drawn Eden Gardens, Kolkata Umpires: Ganesh Charhate and Manish Jain Player of the match: Kumar Kushagra (Jharkhand)

• 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

6–10 June 2022 1st Quarter-final Scorecard

Bengal	v	Jharkhand
773/7d (218.4 overs) Sudip Kumar Gharami 186 (380) Sushant Mishra 3/140 (30 overs)		298 (96 overs) Virat Singh 113* (239) Shahbaz Ahmed 4/51 (21 overs)
318/7d (85.1 overs) Manoj Tiwary 136 (185) Shahbaz Nadeem 5/59 (24 overs)

Match drawn Just Cricket Academy Ground, Bangalore Umpires: Belur Ravi and Saidharshan Kumar Player of the match: Sudip Kumar Gharami (Bengal)

• 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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6–9 June 2022 2nd Quarter-final Scorecard

Mumbai	v	Uttarakhand
647/8d (166.4 overs) Suved Parkar 252 (447) Deepak Dhapola 3/89 (30 overs)		114 (41.1 overs) Kamal Singh 40 (77) Shams Mulani 5/39 (12 overs)
261/3d (58 overs) Yashasvi Jaiswal 103 (150) Dikshanshu Negi 1/31 (5 overs)		69 (27.5 overs) Shivam Khurana 25* (35) Dhawal Kulkarni 3/11 (6 overs)

Mumbai won by 725 runs KSCA Stadium, Bangalore Umpires: C. K. Nandan and Navdeep Singh Player of the match: Suved Parkar (Mumbai)

• Mumbai won the toss and elected to bat.
• Suved Parkar (Mumbai) made his first-class debut.
• Suved Parkar (Mumbai) scored his maiden century and his maiden double century in first-class cricket.^[35]
• The margin of victory was the largest in first-class cricket in terms of runs.^[36]

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6–8 June 2022 3rd Quarter-final Scorecard

Karnataka	v	Uttar Pradesh
253 (84 overs) Ravikumar Samarth 57 (81) Saurabh Kumar 4/73 (32 overs)		155 (37.3 overs) Priyam Garg 39 (59) Ronit More 3/47 (12 overs)
114 (39 overs) Srinivas Sharath 23* (57) Saurabh Kumar 3/36 (16 overs)		213/5 (65.2 overs) Karan Sharma 93* (163) Vijaykumar Vyshak 3/47 (17 overs)

Uttar Pradesh won by 5 wickets KSCA Stadium, Bangalore Umpires: Nitin Pandit and Yeshwant Barde Player of the match: Karan Sharma (Uttar Pradesh)

• Uttar Pradesh won the toss and elected to field.
• Prince Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) made his first-class debut.

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6–9 June 2022 4th Quarter-final Scorecard

Punjab	v	Madhya Pradesh
219 (71.3 overs) Abhishek Sharma 47 (72) Anubhav Agarwal 3/36 (13.3 overs)		397 (154.5 overs) Shubham Sharma 102 (213) Vinay Choudhary 5/83 (40.5 overs)
203 (68.4 overs) Anmol Malhotra 34 (87) Kumar Kartikeya 6/50 (34 overs)		26/0 (5.1 overs) Yash Dubey 17* (16)

Madhya Pradesh won by 10 wickets KSCA Stadium, Bangalore Umpires: Rohan Pandit and Sundaram Ravi Player of the match: Shubham Sharma (Madhya Pradesh)

• Punjab won the toss and elected to bat.

Semi-finals

14–18 June 2022 1st Semi-final Scorecard

Madhya Pradesh	v	Bengal
341 (105.3 overs) Himanshu Mantri 165 (327) Mukesh Kumar 4/66 (27.3 overs)		273 (89.2 overs) Shahbaz Ahmed 116 (209) Puneet Datey 3/48 (14 overs)
281 (114.2 overs) Aditya Shrivastava 82 (225) Shahbaz Ahmed 5/79 (41 overs)		175 (65.2 overs) Abhimanyu Easwaran 78 (157) Kumar Kartikeya 5/67 (32 overs)

Madhya Pradesh won by 174 runs KSCA Stadium, Bangalore Umpires: Krishnamachari Srinivasan and Ulhas Gandhe Player of the match: Himanshu Mantri (Madhya Pradesh)

• Madhya Pradesh won the toss and elected to bat.

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14–18 June 2022 2nd Semi-final Scorecard

Mumbai	v	Uttar Pradesh
393 (140.4 overs) Hardik Tamore 115 (233) Karan Sharma 4/46 (17 overs)		180 (54.3 overs) Shivam Mavi 48 (55) Tushar Deshpande 2/34 (17 overs)
533/4d (156 overs) Yashasvi Jaiswal 181 (372) Prince Yadav 2/92 (27 overs)

Match drawn Just Cricket Academy Ground, Bangalore Umpires: Chirra Ravikanthreddy and Vineet Kulkarni Player of the match: Yashasvi Jaiswal (Mumbai)

• Uttar Pradesh won the toss and elected to field.

Final

22–26 June 2022 Final Scorecard

Mumbai	v	Madhya Pradesh
374 (127.4 overs) Sarfaraz Khan 134 (234) Gaurav Yadav 4/106 (35.4 overs)		536 (177.2 overs) Yash Dubey 133 (336) Shams Mulani 5/173 (63.2 overs)
269 (57.3 overs) Sarfaraz Khan 45 (48) Kumar Kartikeya 4/98 (25 overs)		108/4 (29.5 overs) Himanshu Mantri 37 (55) Shams Mulani 3/41 (13 overs)

Madhya Pradesh won by 6 wickets M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan and Virender Sharma Player of the match: Shubham Sharma (Madhya Pradesh)

• Mumbai won the toss and elected to bat.
• Parth Sahani (Madhya Pradesh) made his first-class debut.

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

1. 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.