2017–18 Ranji Trophy

The 2017–18 Ranji Trophy was the 84th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament that took place in India between October 2017 and January 2018.[1] Vidarbha won the tournament, beating Delhi by 9 wickets in the final, to win their first Ranji Trophy title.[2][3] Vidarbha made their Ranji Trophy debut in the 1957–58 season, making it the third-longest wait before a team won their maiden title.[4] Vidarbha's captain, Faiz Fazal, said that "winning the Ranji Trophy has been the biggest achievement in my career".[5]

2017–18 Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy, awarded to the winners
Dates6 October 2017 – 2 January 2018
Administrator(s)BCCI
Cricket formatFirst-class cricket
Tournament format(s)Round-robin then knockout
Host(s) India
ChampionsVidarbha (1st title)
Participants28
Matches91
Most runsMayank Agarwal (1,160) (Karnataka)
Most wicketsJalaj Saxena (44) (Kerala)
2017–18 Indian domestic cricket season
Men
Women

The previous season was played at neutral venues.[6][7][8] For this season, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) agreed to return to playing fixtures at home and away venues after the neutral venue trial was unpopular with domestic captains.[9][10] However, the knock-out phase of the tournament was still played at neutral venues.[11] The other change from the previous season was an increase in the number of groups from three to four, with each team playing six fixtures in the group stage.[11] The top two teams from each group progressed to the quarter-finals.[12]

Gujarat were the defending champions.[13] The season started on 6 October 2017,[11] with the quarter-finals taking place on 7 December 2017, the semi-finals on 17 December 2017, and the final being held from 29 December 2017 to 2 January 2018.[14] The final was played at the Holkar Stadium, Indore for the second consecutive year.[15]

In November 2017, Mumbai, the most successful team in the history of the Ranji Trophy, played their 500th match in the competition.[16][17]

Following the conclusion of the sixth round of group-stage fixtures, Karnataka and Delhi from Group A and Vidarbha from Group D had all progressed to the knockout stage of the tournament.[18][19] After the final group-stage matches, they were joined by Gujarat and Kerala from Group B,[20] Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai from Group C[21][22] and Bengal from Group D.[23] It was the first time that Kerala had progressed to the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy.[24][25]

In the quarter-finals, Karnataka beat Mumbai by an innings and 20 runs. It was only the fifth time that Mumbai had lost a match by an innings in the history of the Ranji Trophy.[26] Defending champions Gujarat drew their match with Bengal, with Bengal progressing to the semi-finals with a first-innings lead.[27] In the other quarter-final matches, Delhi beat Madhya Pradesh by seven wickets[28] and Vidarbha beat Kerala by 412 runs to advance.[29]

In the first semi-final, Delhi beat Bengal by an innings and 26 runs to reach their first final since the 2007–08 tournament.[30] In the second semi-final, Vidarbha beat Karnataka by 5 runs to reach the final for the first time in their history.[31]

Player transfers

The following player transfers were approved ahead of the season:[32]

Player/Coach From To
Piyush Chawla Uttar Pradesh Gujarat
Robin Uthappa Karnataka Saurashtra
KB Arun Karthik Assam Kerala
Karn Sharma Railways Vidarbha
Ambati Rayudu Vidarbha Hyderabad
Pragyan Ojha Bengal Hyderabad
Amit Verma Assam Karnataka
Balchander Anirudh Hyderabad Tamil Nadu
Jatin Saxena Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh
Rahul Chahar Rajasthan Services
Robin Bist Himachal Pradesh Rajasthan
Gonnabattula Chiranjeevi Andhra Pradesh Railways

Teams

The teams were drawn in the following groups, with the groupings based on the average points for each side in the previous three years:[14]

Group A
Main article: 2017–18 Ranji Trophy Group A

Points table

Team[33] Pld W L D A Pts NRR
Karnataka 6402032+0.479
Delhi 6303027+0.333
Maharashtra 6221116+0.084
Hyderabad 6211216–0.156
Railways 6231014–0.312
Uttar Pradesh 603215+0.508
Assam 604202–0.977
  •   Top two teams advanced to the knockout stage

Group B
Main article: 2017–18 Ranji Trophy Group B

Points table

Team[33] Pld W L D A Pts NRR
Gujarat 6501034+0.097
Kerala 6510031+0.636
Saurashtra 6312026+0.245
Jammu & Kashmir 614109–0.077
Haryana 614109–0.506
Jharkhand 614108–0.049
Rajasthan 602406–0.294

Group C
Main article: 2017–18 Ranji Trophy Group C

Points table

Team[33] Pld W L D A Pts NRR
Madhya Pradesh 6312021–0.116
Mumbai 6204021+0.228
Andhra 6105019+0.326
Baroda 6114016+0.508
Tamil Nadu 6015011–0.112
Odisha 602406–0.648
Tripura 602404–0.426

Group D
Main article: 2017–18 Ranji Trophy Group D

Points table

Team[33] Pld W L D A Pts NRR
Vidarbha 6402031+0.358
Bengal 6213023+0.367
Punjab 6222018+0.609
Himachal Pradesh 6114014+0.300
Chhattisgarh 6132013–0.514
Services 6123010–0.273
Goa 602406–0.700

Knockout stage

The draw for the quarter-finals were made after the final group-stage match, with the following fixtures announced.[34] The fixtures in the knockout stage of the tournament are played across five days, instead of four days in the group stage.[35]

Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
         
B1 Gujarat 224
D2 Bengal 354 & 695/6
D2 Bengal 286 & 86
A2 Delhi 398
A2 Delhi 405 & 217/3
C1 Madhya Pradesh 338 & 283
A2 Delhi 295 & 280
D1 Vidarbha 547 & 32/1
B2 Kerala 176 & 165
D1 Vidarbha 246 & 507/9d
D1 Vidarbha 185 & 313
A1 Karnataka 301 & 192
C2 Mumbai 173 & 377
A1 Karnataka 570

Quarter-finals
7–11 December 2017
Quarter-final 1
Scorecard
v
354 (111.5 overs)
Abhimanyu Easwaran 129 (346)
Ishwar Chaudhary 5/87 (31 overs)
224 (74.5 overs)
Bhargav Merai 67 (116)
Ishan Porel 3/64 (24.5 overs)
695/6 (231 overs)
Writtick Chatterjee 216 (370)
Ishwar Chaudhary 2/95 (35 overs)
Match drawn
Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
Umpires: Yeshwant Barde and Jayaraman Madanagopal
Player of the match: Abhimanyu Easwaran (Bengal)
  • Gujarat won the toss and elected to field.
  • Writtick Chatterjee (Bengal) scored his maiden double-century in first-class cricket.[36]
7–11 December 2017
Quarter-final 2
Scorecard
v
338 (124.1 overs)
Harpreet Singh 107* (200)
Manan Sharma 4/46 (15.1 overs)
405 (119.4 overs)
Kunal Chandela 81 (179)
Mihir Hirwani 5/89 (27.4 overs)
283 (105.5 overs)
Harpreet Singh 78 (126)
Vikas Mishra 4/59 (31.5 overs)
217/3 (51.4 overs)
Gautam Gambhir 95 (129)
Ishwar Pandey 1/18 (6 overs)
Delhi won by 7 wickets
Dr. Gokaraju Liala Gangaaraju ACA Cricket Ground, Vijayawada
Umpires: Gerard Abood and Anil Dandekar
Player of the match: Harpreet Singh (Madhya Pradesh)
  • Delhi won the toss and elected to field.
7–11 December 2017
Quarter-final 3
Scorecard
v
246 (105.3 overs)
Akshay Wadkar 53 (147)
KC Akshay 5/66 (31 overs)
176 (61.5 overs)
Jalaj Saxena 40 (117)
Rajneesh Gurbani 5/38 (14 overs)
507/9d (146.4 overs)
Faiz Fazal 119 (209)
KC Akshay 4/118 (44.4 overs)
165 (52.2 overs)
Salman Nizar 64 (104)
Aditya Sarwate 6/41 (16.2 overs)
Vidarbha won by 412 runs
Lalabhai Contractor Stadium, Surat
Umpires: Vineet Kulkarni and Virender Sharma
Player of the match: Rajneesh Gurbani (Vidarbha)
  • Vidarbha won the toss and elected to bat.
  • No play was possible before tea on day 1.[37]
7–11 December 2017
Quarter-final 4
Scorecard
v
173 (56 overs)
Dhawal Kulkarni 75 (132)
Vinay Kumar 6/34 (15 overs)
570 (163.3 overs)
Shreyas Gopal 150* (274)
Shivam Dube 5/98 (37 overs)
377 (114.5 overs)
Suryakumar Yadav 108 (180)
Krishnappa Gowtham 6/104 (35.5 overs)
Karnataka won by an innings and 20 runs
Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur
Umpires: Abhijit Deshmukh and Nitin Pandit
Player of the match: Vinay Kumar (Karnataka)

Semi-finals
17–21 December 2017
Semi-final 1
Scorecard
v
286 (94.2 overs)
Sudip Chatterjee 83 (162)
Navdeep Saini 3/55 (21 overs)
398 (117 overs)
Gautam Gambhir 127 (216)
Mohammed Shami 6/122 (39 overs)
86 (24.4 overs)
Sudip Chatterjee 21 (32)
Navdeep Saini 4/35 (12 overs)
Delhi won by an innings and 26 runs
Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
Umpires: Abhijit Deshmukh and Nand Kishore
Player of the match: Navdeep Saini (Delhi)
  • Bengal won the toss and elected to bat.
17–21 December 2017
Semi-final 2
Scorecard
v
185 (61.4 overs)
Aditya Sarwate 47 (64)
Abhimanyu Mithun 5/45 (16 overs)
301 (100.5 overs)
Karun Nair 153 (287)
Rajneesh Gurbani 5/94 (34 overs)
313 (84.1 overs)
Ganesh Satish 81 (168)
Vinay Kumar 3/71 (18.1 overs)
192 (59.1 overs)
Vinay Kumar 36 (48)
Rajneesh Gurbani 7/68 (23.1 overs)
Vidarbha won by 5 runs
Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Umpires: Vineet Kulkarni and Pashchim Pathak
Player of the match: Rajneesh Gurbani (Vidarbha)
  • Vidarbha won the toss and elected to bat.

Final
29 December 2017–2 January 2018
Final
Scorecard
v
295 (102.5 overs)
Dhruv Shorey 145 (294)
Rajneesh Gurbani 6/59 (24.4 overs)
547 (163.4 overs)
Akshay Wadkar 133 (262)
Navdeep Saini 5/135 (36.3 overs)
280 (76 overs)
Nitish Rana 64 (113)
Akshay Wakhare 4/95 (28 overs)
32/1 (5 overs)
Wasim Jaffer 17* (17)
Kulwant Khejroliya 1/21 (3 overs)
Vidarbha won by 9 wickets
Holkar Stadium, Indore
Umpires: Anil Dandekar and Nitin Menon
Player of the match: Rajneesh Gurbani (Vidarbha)

References
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