5 Unknown facts about the Ranji Trophy

The Ranji TrophyThe Ranji Trophy is well underway with broadcasters trying to squeeze in matches and reporters dedicating enormous columns to it even as the national team takes on South Africa in the much-awaited T20 series. While most of the trivia regarding the age-old domestic competition are reasonably popular among the masses, there remain quite a few that might have escaped the knowledge of the average Indian.The author, therefore, takes a tour around five such unknown locales of the coveted contest.

#1 The Cricket Championship of India

Ranji Trophy was previously known as Cricket Championship

The origin of the Ranji Trophy is believed to have been in the 1930s after a meeting within the Board of Control for Cricket in India in July 1934. The first major premier first-class level domestic competition in India was then known as the Cricket Championship in India.

Granted this competition was the first of its kind in the country, but there used to be a tournament called Bombay Quadrangular that continued from 1912 to 1936 after which it assumed the name Pentangular with the addition of an extra team.

This annual contest which had the teams divided along religious line - Europeans, Parsees, Hindus, Muslims - was scrapped by the BCCI in 1946 and replaced with a zonal tournament.

#2 The truth about Maharaja Ranjitsinhji

Ranjitsinhji even refused to captain an all-Indian XI against England

If one were to trace the roots of Indian cricket to a single point in history, the name of one man would stand tall among a handful of others. Although often considered India’s first ever cricketer, Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji was never known to have played for the country. In fact, his fascination towards the British way of things drove him to refuse to captain an all-Indian team that toured England in 1911.

Having migrated to England in his formative years, Ranjitsinhji remained a loyal cricketer for Sussex and England throughout. Although he rapidly ascended the ranks with masterful batting and equally admirable fielding desiring to captain England one day, prejudice and veiled racism kept him at bay. With 72 centuries and 109 fifties, his County records speak for themselves. It was only fitting that a trophy be named posthumously after a man of such stature and talent.

#3 The inaugural champions

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala

The winners of the first season of the Ranji Trophy were presented with a trophy donated by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. Bombay went on to seize the distinction of being the first winners of the trophy when they defeated North India in the 1934-35 final. Two decades later, they embarked on a winning spree emerging victorious 15 times consecutively from 1958-59 to 1972-73.

November 4, 1934 witnessed the first match between Madras and Mysore at Chepauk. The first ball was bowled by right-arm medium pacer M.J. Gopalan of Madras to N. Curtis.

Of the 13 matches played in the first season, only 3 ended in a result. The rules dictated that in the case of a drawn match, the outcome would be decided solely on the basis of performances of the two teams in the first innings. This unique rule of first innings lead continues even today, albeit in a more unbiased form.

#4 The dubious double

Secunderabad’s cricket stadium

While Bombay’s (now Mumbai) domination in the domestic circuit is not something an Indian is unfamiliar with, very few know about the single state team that holds the records of the highest and the lowest team aggregates in an innings in the Ranji trophy.

Hyderabad emerged as a force to reckon with in the 1993-94 season when they dominated Andhra Pradesh in a South Zone match at Secunderabad. After bundling out the opposition for 263 courtesy Narender Singh’s five-for, Hyderabad registered a mammoth 944/6 with two players scoring double tons and Maturi Sridhar amassing 366 – the third highest individual score in an innings in the Ranji trophy.

Almost 17 years later, Hyderabad was dismissed for all but 21 against Rajasthan – the lowest ever team total in the history of the tournament. Surprisingly, it was just an 18-year old debutante by the name of Deepak Chahar whose 8/10 in 7.3 overs spelled the doom for Ravi Teja’s team on a November day in 2010.

#5 The only tie

Hazare took five wickets in the match

The semi-final of Ranji Trophy 1945-46 is remembered for multiple reasons, the foremost among them being the distinction of the first and only tied match in the 80-year old history of the championship. It was Baroda locking horns with Southern Punjab in a 4-day match at Baradari Ground, Patiala.

The eventful first innings saw Southern Punjab surrender meekly to the duo of Vijay Hazare and Amir Elahi until a resilient Lala Amarnath steadied the ship with a fighting 91. It was then Aftab Ahmed who ran through the Baroda batting order with 6 wickets for 37 runs, thereby securing a 61 run lead for his team.

In the second innings, Vijay Hazare scalped another 5 wickets to achieve his best bowling figures in first-class cricket before scoring a decent 46 with the bat. Both teams were at par when Lala Amarnath dismissed No. 11 Ahmed Patel with Baroda on 207. The outcome was ultimately decided by the flip of a coin that ended up favoring Baroda.