| 2021–22 Ranji Trophy | |
| Fromdate: | 17 February |
| Todate: | 26 June 2022 |
| Administrator: | BCCI |
| Cricket Format: | First-class cricket |
| Tournament Format: | Round-robin then knockout |
| Host: |  India |
| Champions: | Madhya Pradesh |
| Count: | 1 |
| Runner 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) |
| Previous Year: | 2020–21 |
| Previous Tournament: | 2020–21 Ranji Trophy |
| Next Year: | 2022–23 |
| Next Tournament: | 2022–23 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]
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.[19] [20] [21] It qualified for the 2023-24 Irani Cup.
The 2021–22 Ranji Trophy was initially scheduled to take place from 13 January to 20 March 2022.[22] The previous edition of the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[23] 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.[24] [25] 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.[26] 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.[27]
Originally, the tournament was scheduled to start on 16 November 2021,[1] but was later postponed to 5 January 2022[28] and again to 13 January 2022.[22] 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.[29] 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.[30]
The teams were placed in the following groups:[31]
| Group A (Rajkot) | Group B (Cuttack) | Group C (Chennai) | Group D (Ahmedabad) | Group E (Trivandrum) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | |||||
| Group F (Delhi) | Group G (Haryana) | Group H (Guwahati) | Plate Group (Kolkata) | ||||||
| valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top |
See main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group A.
See main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group B.
See main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group C.
See main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group D.
See main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group E.
See main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group F.
See main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group G.
See main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Group H.
See main article: 2021–22 Ranji Trophy Plate Group.
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| Runs | Player | Match | Innings | Average | Highest score | 100 | 50 | Team |
| 982 | 6 | 9 | 122.75 | 275 | 4 | 2 | Mumbai | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 658 | 6 | 9 | 53.15 | 142 | 2 | 5 | Madhya Pradesh | |
| 623 | 4 | 6 | 311.50 | 155* | 5 | 0 | Nagaland | |
| 614 | 6 | 10 | 76.75 | 289 | 2 | 1 | Madhya Pradesh | |
| 608 | 6 | 9 | 76.00 | 116 | 4 | 1 | Madhya Pradesh | |
| Wickets | Player | Match | Innings | Average | Best | 5-fer | 10-fer | Team |
| 45 | 6 | 11 | 16.75 | 7/114 | 6 | 2 | Mumbai | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | 6 | 11 | 21.00 | 6/50 | 3 | 0 | Madhya Pradesh | |
| 25 | 5 | 9 | 24.96 | 5/58 | 3 | 1 | Jharkhand | |
| 23 | 5 | 10 | 18.91 | 5/11 | 1 | 0 | Madhya Pradesh | |
| 21 | 3 | 5 | 19.61 | 7/45 | 2 | 1 | Maharashtra | |
Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar aired selective matches on TV and internet respectively. BCCI's website broadcast highlights and scores.