The 1988–89 Ranji Trophy marked the 55th edition of the premier first-class competition in India. Twenty-seven teams competed across a format that included both league and knockout stages between 13 October 1988 and 28 March 1989. The tournament ultimately saw Delhi secure their fifth title.
Delhi dominated the final against Bengal, winning by an innings and 210 runs. This victory capped a successful campaign for Delhi, bolstered by the performance of Manoj Prabhakar, who finished the season as the leading wicket-taker with 39 scalps.
Tamil Nadu batsman Woorkeri Raman was a standout individual performer, finishing as the leading run-scorer with 1,018 runs. During the season, he made history by scoring three consecutive double centuries. His run tally broke the 45-year-old record set by Rusi Modi for the most runs in a single Ranji Trophy season.
The semi-finals featured notable individual efforts, including a fighting 78 off 171 balls by Sachin Tendulkar for Bombay in a match against Delhi. While Delhi reached the final through a first innings lead in that drawn match, Bengal advanced to their first final since the 1971–72 season by eliminating Tamil Nadu on a first innings lead.
| Pre-Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Finals |
| 3 Feb 1989 — Secunderabad | |||
| Hyderabad | 270 & 268 | ||
| 17 Feb 1989 — Bombay | |||
| Bombay | 283 & 256/4 | ||
| Bombay | 234 & 422 | ||
| Uttar Pradesh | 137 & 295 | ||
| 3 Mar 1989 — Bombay | |||
| Bombay | 321 | ||
| Delhi (F) | 409 & 176/5 | ||
| 17 Feb 1989 — Delhi | |||
| Delhi | 638/6d | ||
| Orissa | 161 & 262 | ||
| 22 Mar 1989 — Delhi | |||
| Delhi | 721 | ||
| Bengal | 167 & 344 | ||
| 17 Feb 1989 — Calcutta | |||
| Bengal (F) | 594/8d & 66/2 | ||
| Punjab | 551 | ||
| 3 Mar 1989 — Calcutta | |||
| Bengal (F) | 596/8d & 76/1 | ||
| Tamil Nadu | 535 | ||
| 17 Feb 1988 — Madras | |||
| Tamil Nadu | 507 & 247 | ||
| 3 Feb 1989 — Pune | |||
| Maharashtra | 382 & 333 | ||
| Maharashtra | 700 | ||
| Madhya Pradesh | 261 & 177 |
| 3–6 February 1989 Pre-quarter-final 1 Scorecard |
| Hyderabad | v | Bombay |
| 270 (71 overs)M. V. Narasimha Rao 66*Kiran Mokashi 4/65 (22 overs) | 283 (87.3 overs)Dilip Vengsarkar 64Arshad Ayub 6/129 (38.3 overs) | |
| 268 (75.5 overs)Arshad Ayub 69Kiran Mokashi 5/109 (28 overs) | 259/4 (87.5 overs)Sanjay Manjrekar 80*Venkatapathy Raju 3/118 (40 overs) |
| Bombay won by 6 wicketsGymkhana Ground, Secunderabad Umpires: P. S. Godbole and R. Mitra |
| 3–6 February 1989 Pre-quarter-final 1 Scorecard |
| Madhya Pradesh | v | Maharashtra |
| 261 (55.4 overs)Sandeep Patil 68Salil Ankola 5/93 (17.4 overs) | 700 (164.5 overs)Shantanu Sugwekar 299*Suhail Ansari 3/69 (26 overs) | |
| 177 (38.2 overs)Prashant Dwivedi 50Gregory D'Monte 5/60 (15 overs) |
| Maharashtra won by an innings and 262 runsNehru Stadium, Pune Umpires: D. V. Pathak and V. S. Rajan |
| 17–20 February 1989 Quarter-final 1 Scorecard |
| Tamil Nadu | v | Maharashtra |
| 507 (135.5 overs)Woorkeri Raman 200*Sunil Gudge 5/122 (28.5 overs) | 382 (96 overs)Surendra Bhave 128Sunil Subramaniam 7/107 (31.1 overs) | |
| 247 (69 overs)Arjan Kripal Singh 89Ramesh Hazare 7/68 (27 overs) | 333 (64.1 overs)Shrikant Jadhav 86Bharat Arun 4/75 (14.1 overs) |
| Tamil Nadu won by 39 runsM. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Umpires: Nilay Dutta and Ram Babu Gupta |
| 17–20 February 1989 Quarter-final 2 Scorecard |
| Bengal | v | Punjab |
| 594/8d (171 overs)Ashok Malhotra 200*Bhupinder Singh 3/115 (43 overs) | 551 (174.1 overs)Gursharan Singh 298*Satyendra Singh 4/94 (36.1 overs) | |
| 66/2 (16 overs)Indu Bhushan Roy 31*Rajdeep Kalsi 1/9 (2 overs) |
| Match drawn(Bengal won on 1st innings)Eden Gardens, Calcutta Umpires: B. Jamula and B. R. Keshavamurthy |
| 17–20 February 1989 Quarter-final 3 Scorecard |
| Bombay | v | Uttar Pradesh |
| 234 (67.1 overs)Shishir Hattangadi 140Gopal Sharma 4/81 (23 overs) | 137 (59.4 overs)Sunil Chaturvedi 47Kiran Mokashi 4/34 (18.4 overs) | |
| 422 (138.5 overs)Sanjay Manjrekar 131Gopal Sharma 7/113 (51.5 overs) | 295 (111.5 overs)Rahul Sapru 92*Kiran Mokashi 4/104 (38.5 overs) |
| Bombay won by 224 runsWankhede Stadium, Bombay Umpires: S. K. Bansal and Soumendra Basu |
| 17–20 February 1989 Quarter-final 4 Scorecard |
| Orissa | v | Delhi |
| 161 (65 overs)Asjit Jaiprakasham 35Manoj Prabhakar 6/65 (24 overs) | 638/6d (161 overs)Raman Lamba 180Sushil Kumar Prasad 3/220 (61 overs) | |
| 262 (87 overs)Soumitra Chowdhury 79Manoj Prabhakar 4/42 (14 overs) |
| Delhi won by an innings and 215 runsFeroz Shah Kotla, Delhi Umpires: M. G. Deshpande and S. B. Kulkarni |
| 3–6 March 1989 1st Semi-final Scorecard |
| Delhi | v | Bombay |
| 409 (170.3 overs)Manoj Prabhakar 123Raju Kulkarni 5/90 (30.3 overs) | 321 (99.2 overs)Sachin Tendulkar 78 (171)Maninder Singh 7/105 (37 overs) | |
| 176/5 (75 overs)Bhaskar Pillai 49Ravi Thakkar 2/54 (24 overs) |
| Match drawn(Delhi won on 1st innings)Wankhede Stadium, Bombay Umpires: R. V. Ramani and Ivaturi Shivram |
| 3–6 March 1989 2nd Semi-final Scorecard |
| Bengal | v | Tamil Nadu |
| 596/8d (182 overs)Rajinder Singh 148Divakar Vasu 3/149 (50 overs) | 535 (140 overs)Woorkeri Raman 238Gautam Shome 4/135 (33 overs) | |
| 76/1 (23 overs)Indu Roy 52Arjan Kripal Singh 1/15 (4 overs) |
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