The 2022/23 edition of the Ranji Trophy will begin in December 2022 and run until March 2023 – here is all you need to know about India’s premier First-Class competition, including start date, schedule, teams, groups and format.

Ranji Trophy: What happened in the last season?

Madhya Pradesh enter the competition having won their maiden title in 2022. They defeated Mumbai in the final and would be hoping to become the first team since Vidarbha in 2018/19 to defend their Ranji Trophy title. Mumbai, on the other hand, would be looking to go one better, having not won the Ranji Trophy crown since 2015-16.

Mumbai’s Sarfaraz Khan topped the run-scoring charts last season, amassing 982 runs in 6 matches. Rajat Patidar also scored heavily, notching up 658 runs in six games as Madhya Pradesh won the title. Left-arm spinners, too, enjoyed themselves with Mumbai’s Shams Mulani, Madhya Pradesh’s Kumar Kartikeya and Jharkhand’s Shahbaz Nadeem being the three leading wicket-takers in 2022.
Ranji Trophy 2022-23: Format

Ranji Trophy 2022/23: Format

A total of 39 teams will participate in the upcoming Ranji Trophy, with those sides being divided into five groups. There are four Elite groups, with eight teams in each of those groups. The Plate group, meanwhile, comprises seven sides. After the shorter round-robin stage last time out, teams will play their matches in a home and away format in 2022/23. Each side part of an Elite group will play seven games apiece, with those in the Plate group playing five matches in the group stage.

Quarter final qualification

The team that finishes first in each Elite group will qualify for the quarter-final. The sides that finish second will then be ranked 5-8 based on the points accumulated, the number of wins and NRR, if required. The team that finishes eighth on this particular parameter will face the winner of the Plate group in a pre-quarter final.

The Plate group, meanwhile, will see the top four teams qualify for the Plate semi-final. The top-ranked side will play the fourth-ranked side, with the second-placed team clashing with the third-placed team. The winner of these two semi-finals will then contest the final, the winner of which will play a pre-quarter final against one of the four sides that have finished second in their Elite group.

Schedule and venues

The venues for these matches are yet to be finalised, and will be added once available. The first set of matches are slated to begin on December 13. The Plate Group matches culminate on January 29, with the last set of Elite Group round-robin matches scheduled to finish on February 20.

Groups

Elite Group A – Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Baroda, Odisha and Nagaland

Elite Group B – Mumbai, Saurashtra, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Assam

Elite Group C – Kerala, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Services, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Goa and Pondicherry

Elite Group D – Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Railways, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and Tripura.

Plate Group – Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim

This article will be updated once latest information on the 2022/23 season is made official.