First Class Domestic Championships of India

With all the high profile international action going on all around the world, domestic tournaments often get relegated to the secondary citizen status in almost all media channels. Indeed, even when there is no international tournament going on but a humble Ranji trophy match being played somewhere in India, it is highly unlikely to find a report anywhere but in the most obscurest corner of the sports page of a newspaper. The lesser said about the coverage of such tournaments in the TV media the better. In the glare of of all the fanfare accorded to the big boy tournaments it is often forgotten that the players of that high stage come through the lowly grounds of regional and zone championships. Until the Indian team faces a crises of the magnitude as we are seeing now with half of the stars convalescing, Ranji performers are hardly discussed in drawing rooms. Here is an attempt by the Cricketist to acquaint its readership with the various domestic tournaments organized around the world, the structure of play, the rules and the regulations with a touch on their history. In a series of articles, we intend to cover the domestic cricket structure of all the Test playing nations. The first one is for dear motherland, India.

As an Indian, one must have heard of the following terms at random times, mentioned in passing, Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, Vijay Merchant Trophy, Cooch Behar Trophy, Ranji Trophy, NKP Salve Championship etc. Ask an average guy about these various championships and the most that he might actually be knowing is that Team India is selected from the best performers of the Ranji Trophy. But hey, isn’t that the domestic tournament of the longer version of the game? How do ODI players get selected on the basis of their performance in a 4 day (yes, a Ranji match is a 4 day affair) tournament? And what about the players who come from states that have never won a Ranji match yet are big names in the Test line up including our Captain himself. Moreover, how do the State teams get selected, from the clubs, eh? But hold on, clubs don’t play 4/5 day games. Well, do not worry if you have such questions in your mind. By the time you have read this post, you will be wise enough to hold your ground on all these topics and then some more.

STRUCTURE OF FIRST CLASS TOURNAMENTS

Click to expand

RANJI TROPHY

This is perhaps the most well known of all the domestic cricket leagues in India. The tournament is named after one of India’s first cricket legends Maharaja Ranjit Sinhji. This is the oldest cricket tournament played in India having being played since 1934-35. Every year this tournament is played between 1st of October and 15th of April. Unlike popular belief, this tournament is not played between states but different boards that are affiliated with the BCCI. That is why certain states like Gujarat and Maharashtra have more than one teams playing in the Ranjis.

Currently there are 27 teams in the Ranji league. The top 15 of these play in the Super League for the Ranji Trophy while the bottom 12 compete for the Ranji Plate. The league matches are played for points. The point distribution being as below:

Scenario	Points
Win Outright	5
Bonus Point (for innings and 10 wicket wins)	1
1st Innings Lead	3 *
No Result	1
1st Innings Deficit	1 *
Lost Outright	0

* For a drawn match. Source: Wikipedia

The interesting rule in this tournament is that while Plate and Super League matches are played separately at the league levels, at semi final stage, the topper of the Plate group gets automatic promotion to the Super League. Thus the Ranji Super League semi finals are played between the top 3 teams of the Super League and the winner of the Plate. Last years champion Rajasthan were not a part of the Super League but got a promotion by virtue of their first place finish in the Plate. At the end of each season, the bottom two teams of the Super League get relegated to the Plates while the top two of the Plates enter the Super League.

DULEEP TROPHY

This tournament is named after the nephew of Ranjit Sinhji, Kumar Duleepsinhji Jadeja. No less an illustrious cricketer than his uncle, this was what The Wisden had to say about him “In natural gifts of eye, wrist and footwork he is certainly blest far above the ordinary measure.” This tournament has been in place since 1961-62.

This is the zone level championship, one notch above the Ranji Trophy in terms of representation. The whole country is divided into 5 different zones viz. North, South, East, West and Central. This tournament is mostly played after the end of the season’s Ranji Trophy. Players for different zones are picked based on their performance in the Ranji. Unlike the Ranji trophy, this is a knock out tournament. All the matches except the Final are 4 day rubbers. The final is a 5 day match.

From 2003-04 season till the 2008 season the BCCI had experimented with a 6 team format, the sixth team being a foreign provincial side. Some of the teams that participated in the tournament were Sri Lanka A, England A and the national team of Bangladesh. The idea has since been dropped.

IRANI TROPHY

This is the pinnacle of first class domestic cricket in India. It is a one off match between the reigning Ranji Trophy winner and the Rest of India side. Quite naturally, this is one match where most of the test players participate, most often as a part of the Rest of India squad. This is also a five day match. Named after the late Z.R. Irani, this tournament has been played since 1959-60 to commemorate the silver jubilee year of the Ranji Trophy. This is the domestic season opening tournament in India where the Ranji champions get a chance to hone up their game before starting on their title defence.

Now to answer the question raised before, how do players from affiliates that have not performed well in the Ranji get to show their calibre. Well, the Duleep Trophy is the answer for that. As the Zone teams are picked up by selecting the best players from the constituent states, even a player from a lesser ranked team can get a chance to play along side the best in the business by playing for his zone. Then the question of the selection of the state teams. The states pick up players young from the Cooch Behar Trophy (Under 19) and the C.K. Nayudu Trophy (Under 22) tournaments which are the Ranji Trophy equivalents in the respective age groups. So a player who performs well in the Cooch Behar trophy will get a chance to represent his state in the C.K. Nayudu trophy. A good performance here will promote him to the Ranji squad thence to the Zone squad and finally to the National team. Sometimes, the order is not followed strictly though, especially for a Sachin Tendulkar.

Well, this post has discussed in detail the First Class tournaments played in India. We will look at the various One Day, called List A at this level, tournaments in the next post. Keep an eye on this page and wish luck to the beleaguered Indian team in England for the second ODI. Au Revoir.