The 1996-97 Ranji Trophy marked the 63rd edition of the tournament. Twenty-seven teams participated in this first-class competition across India. The format combined league stages followed by a knockout phase to determine the eventual winner.
Mumbai claimed the title for the 33rd time after facing Delhi in the final. The match took place in Gwalior and holds the distinction of being the first day-night first-class game ever played in India. Mumbai secured the championship victory based on a first innings lead.
Individual performances stood out during the season as players vied for statistical dominance. Raman Lamba of Delhi led the run-scoring charts with a total of 1034 runs. Meanwhile, Rajesh Chauhan from Madhya Pradesh proved to be the most effective bowler, taking 52 wickets throughout the campaign.
| 17–21 March 1997 Scorecard |
| Madhya Pradesh | v | Bengal |
| 464 (145.2 overs)Amay Khurasiya 209Utpal Chatterjee 3/110 (45 overs) | 420 (149.1)Rohan Gavaskar 109Rajesh Chauhan 3/121 (49 overs) | |
| 425/5 d (136 overs)Jai P Yadav 108Rohan Gavaskar 2/51 (20 overs) | 54/2 (23 overs)Shibsagar Singh 86Manish Babulal Majithia 2/16 (9 overs) |
| Match drawnMaharani Usharaje Trust Cricket Ground, Indore, Indore Umpires: R Radhakrishnan and KG Lakshminarayana |
| 17–21 March 1997 Scorecard |
| Hyderabad | v | Maharashtra |
| 226 (96.4 overs)V Pratap 76Milind Shripath Kulkarni 4/71 (24.4 overs) | 287 (119.3)Indrajeet Kamtekar 53Venkatapathy Raju 3/54 (31 overs) | |
| 230 (76.3 overs)Narender Pal Singh 62Iqbal Siddiqui 4/46 (11.3 overs) | 172/3 (35.3 overs)Surendra Bhave 86Ramakrishnan Sridhar 2/42 (7 overs) |
| Maharashtra won by 7 wicketsNehru Stadium, Pune Umpires: SK Bansal and MS Mahal |
| 27–31 March 1997 Scorecard |
| Madhya Pradesh | v | Mumbai |
| 369 (153.3 overs)Manish Majithia 75Nilesh Kulkarni 5/81 (41 overs) | 532 (230.5)Amol Mazumdar 125Rajesh Chauhan 6/191(93.5 overs) | |
| 291/7 d (101.5 overs)Abbas Ali 102Sairaj Bahutule 4/75 (37.5 overs) | 25/0 (11 overs)Wasim Jaffer 16Sunil Lahore 0/12 (5 overs) |
| Match drawnMaharani Usharaje Trust Cricket Ground, Indore Umpires: S Lakshmanan and P Bhanu Prakash |
| 27–31 March 1997 Scorecard |
| Delhi | v | Maharashtra |
| 656 (213.4 overs)Raman Lamba 192Sameer Inamdar 4/163 (40 overs) | 524 (143.1)Hrishikesh Kanitkar 174Robin Singh 3/168 (35 overs) | |
| 264/2 d (67 overs)Raman Lamba 101Shantanu Sugwekar 2/41 (12 overs) |
| Match drawnNehru Stadium, Pune Umpires: LM Thyagrajan and TN Ravi |
| 5–9 April 1997 Scorecard |
| Mumbai | v | Delhi |
| 630 (202.2 overs)Jatin Paranjpe 111, Amol Muzumdar 144Feroze Ghayas 2/116 | 559 (219.1 overs)Ashu Dani 178, Ajay Sharma 176Nilesh Kulkarni 4/143 |
| Mumbai won on first innings leadCaptain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior Umpires: V. K. Ramaswamy, Subroto Porel |
Squad lists and statistics via Wikipedia