The 2021–22 Ranji Trophy was the 87th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India. The tournament was split into two phases, with the league stage being played from 17 February to 15 March 2022, and the knockout phase played from 6 to 26 June 2022. 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. 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.
Background
The 2021–22 Ranji Trophy was initially scheduled to take place from 13 January to 20 March 2022. The previous edition of the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. 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. 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.
Originally, the tournament was scheduled to start on 16 November 2021, but was later postponed to 5 January 2022 and again to 13 January 2022. 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. 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.
Teams
The teams were placed in the following groups:
Preliminary quarter-final
Nagaland won the toss and elected to field. , Kumar Kushagra (Jharkhand) scored his maiden century and his maiden double century in first-class cricket. He broke Javed Miandad's (Pak) record to become the youngest batsman to score 250+ runs in a first-class innings (17 years, 141 days). , Jharkhand made their highest team total in a first-class cricket match.
Quarter-finals
Jharkhand won the toss and elected to field. , Sudip Kumar Gharami (Bengal) scored his maiden century in first-class cricket.
Mumbai won the toss and elected to bat. , Suved Parkar (Mumbai) made his first-class debut. , Suved Parkar (Mumbai) scored his maiden century and his maiden double century in first-class cricket. , The margin of victory was the largest in first-class cricket in terms of runs.
Uttar Pradesh won the toss and elected to field. , Prince Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) made his first-class debut.
Punjab won the toss and elected to bat.
Semi-finals
Madhya Pradesh won the toss and elected to bat.
Uttar Pradesh won the toss and elected to field.
Final
Mumbai won the toss and elected to bat. , Parth Sahani (Madhya Pradesh) made his first-class debut.
Broadcasters
Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar aired selective matches on TV and internet respectively. BCCI's website broadcast highlights and scores.
