By Dinesh Anandan
Ranji Trophy is India’s premier first-class competition where 28 teams across the nation compete for the championship title. Named after Ranjitsinhji, the tournament began in 1934-35 as ‘The Cricket Championship of India’. Mumbai is the most successful team in the history of Ranji trophy with 41 titles to their name.
Changes in Format for 2017-18 Season:
For the first time, a four-group system has been introduced with seven teams featuring in each group, and the top two from each group will advance to the quarterfinals. Until last year, each team had to play 8 matches but now with the addition of an extra group, each team will play two games less than what they did last season.
In addition, the neutral venue concept in the group stages, which raised several objections, has been dumped this season. However, the knockout stages will be played at neutral venues, thus neglecting the home advantage of stronger teams. Competitive balance is ensured with these changes as many lower-rung teams had a disadvantage with the two-tier system that prevailed in the earlier seasons.
Four-group system:
Group A – Assam, Delhi, Hyderabad, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Railways, Uttar Pradesh
Group B – Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Team Rajasthan, Saurashtra
Group C – Andhra Pradesh, Baroda, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura
Group D – Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Services, Vidarbha
Major player transfers for 2017-18 Season:
Robin Uthappa – Karnataka to Saurashtra
Piyush Chawla – Uttar Pradesh to Gujarat
Arun Karthik – Assam to Kerala
Karn Sharma – Railways to Vidarbha
Ambati Rayudu – Vidarbha to Hyderabad
Group Stage Performances – Which teams advanced to the knockouts?
Karnataka and Delhi emerged easily from group A finishing the group stage with 32 and 27 points respectively to progress into the quarterfinals. In group B, Kerala has made history by reaching the quarter-finals of the Ranji trophy for the first time. The defending champions Gujarat also advanced to the quarterfinals from Group B. Until the 2nd day of Round 6, five teams had a chance to secure the top two places in Group C. But it was Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai who outclassed their opponents in the final match of the group stage which earned them a place in the quarterfinals. Both Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai finished the group stage with 21 points but Madhya Pradesh emerged as table toppers from the group stage because of more number of wins than Mumbai. From Group D, Vidarbha and Bengal marched into the quarterfinals. Major credit to the top order players from both the sides who scored plenty of runs this season.
Group A: Karnataka, Delhi
Group B: Gujarat, Kerala
Group C: Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai
Group D: Vidarbha, Bengal
Key Performances so far in this season:
Top Batting Performances:
Mayank Agarwal for Karnataka – 1064 Runs at an average of 133 with 5 centuries in six matches. Scored a triple century (304) against Maharashtra.
Anmolpreet Singh for Punjab – He is just 19 – 753 runs in just 7 innings at an average of 125.5. Scored two double centuries against Chhattisgarh and Services respectively.
Hanuma Vihari for Andhra – 752 runs this season with an average of 94. Scored a triple century against Odisha.
Faiz Fazal for Vidarbha – Vidarbha’s captain lead the team from the front scoring 710 runs in just 8 innings at an average of 101.43. Scored a double century against Himachal Pradesh.
Sanjay Ramaswamy for Vidarbha – Complementing his opening partner Faiz Fazal, Sanjay piled up 665 runs in 8 innings at an average of 95.
Top Bowling Performances:
Jalaj Saxena for Kerala – 38 wickets in just 6 matches. Three 5-wicket hauls to his name in this season. Impact performance was his 8-85 against Rajasthan.
Dharmendrasinh Jadeja for Saurashtra – 33 wickets in 6 matches. Three 5 wicket hauls to his name this season.
Piyush Chawla for Gujarat – 31 wickets in 5 matches.
Siddharth Desai for Gujarat – He’s just 17 – Picked up 28 wickets in just 4 matches.
Best All-Rounders:
Jalaj Saxena for Kerala – 482 runs this season with the bat at an average of 60.25. 38 wickets with the ball in 6 matches. His all-round performance was a key factor in Kerala reaching the quarterfinals for the first time in Ranji history.
Swapnil Singh for Baroda – 20 wickets with the ball and 565 runs with the bat at an average of 62.78 this season.
Ravindra Jadeja for Saurashtra – 10 wickets in 3 matches with the ball and 258 runs in 4 innings at an average of 86 with the bat.
Best Young Talents (U-20)
Anmolpreet Singh
Prithvi Shaw
Siddharth Desai
Washington Sundar
Ishan Kishan
Rishabh Pant
Exciting quarter-final clashes (Dec 7-11 2017):
Match 1 – Gujarat vs. Bengal in Jaipur
Match 2 – Delhi vs. Madhya Pradesh in Vijayawada
Match 3 – Kerala vs. Vidarbha in Surat.
Match 4 – Karnataka vs. Mumbai in Nagpur.
Will it be the defending champions Gujarat who hold their nerves again? Will it be the most successful team in the Ranji history – Mumbai? Will it be the batting heavyweights Karnataka or Vidarbha? Will it be the surprise entrants Kerala? Lots of excitement from cricket fans this time around to know who will win the title this season.
