List of Ranji Trophy records

Ranji Trophy is the premier first-class tournament in India and has been in existence since 1943. Named after former England cricketer Ranjitsinhji, an Indian who represented England even before India played their first Test match, Ranji Trophy has been serving as the perfect platform for young players to showcase their skills.

Over the last 75 years, over 5,000 cricketers have played in the tournament and only a few have managed to perform consistently. A lot of records were broken in the tournament over the years. Let us take a look at the list of all the important Ranji Trophy records.

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Most titles: Mumbai (also known as Bombay) have won the tournament 41 times, the most by any team.

Most finals: With 41 titles in their kitty, Mumbai have lost the final on five occasions of their 46 appearances in the summit clash, the most by any team.

Most matches by a player: Ever since making his debut in the 1995/96 season, Madhya Pradesh captain Devendra Bundela has played 137 matches in Ranji Trophy, the most by any player.

Team records

Deepak Chahar in action for Rising Pune Supergiant

Highest team total: Hyderabad registered the highest total in the history of Ranji Trophy when they scored 966 runs for the loss of six wickets against their local rivals Andhra at Secunderabad in 1994. MV Sridhar scored 366 while Noel David and Vivek Jaisimha scored double centuries to propel their team to a massive total. Unfortunately, the match failed to produce a result as Andhra managed 180 for the loss of seven wickets when the match ended.

Lowest team total: Not only the highest, even the lowest total ever in Ranji Trophy belongs to Hyderabad as they were bundled out for just 21 against Rajasthan in 2010, thanks to debutant Deepak Chahar's heroics that saw him take eight wickets in the first innings. Hyderabad managed to score 126 in the second innings but that couldn't prevent them from losing by an innings and 256 runs.

Batting records I

Wasim Jaffer holds the majority of the batting records in Ranji Trophy

Most runs: Out-of-favour Indian opener Wasim Jaffer is arguably the best batsman to have played Ranji Trophy as he has scored the most runs by any batsman in the tournament. Since making his debut for Mumbai in 1996, Jaffer scored 10143 runs in his career that is set to enter its 21st year.

After playing for Mumbai for nearly two decades, Jaffer moved to local rivals Vidarbha a couple of seasons back and still continues to accumulate runs. Incidentally, he is the only batsman to have scored 10000 runs in the history of the tournament.

Highest individual scores: Maharashtra's Bhausaheb Nimbalkar's 443* against Kathiawar (now Saurashtra) in 1948 is still the highest individual score by a batsman in the history of Ranji Trophy. His unbeaten 443 took 494 balls and included 49 fours and a lone six. Also, he is the only batsman to have scored a 400 in the tournament.

Batting records II

Ravindra Jadeja became Sir Ravindra Jadeja after his three triple centuries

Highest average (Minimum 3500 runs): Bombay's Vijay Merchant averaged 98.75 in the tournament as he amassed 3639 runs in 47 innings for them.

Most centuries: Once again, Wasim Jaffer tops a batting chart, this time, for the most number of centuries scored in the tournament with 35.

Most fifties: Once again, Jaffer leads the charts with 76 fifties in the history of Ranji Trophy.

Most double centuries: Himachal Pradesh's Paras Dogra and Ajay Sharma (both Delhi and HP) share this record as both these batsmen have scored seven double centuries in their Ranji Trophy career.

Most triple centuries: With three triple centuries, Saurashtra's Ravindra Jadeja holds the record for most triple centuries in Ranji Trophy.

Most quadruple centuries: Maharashtra's Bhausaheb Nimbalkar is the only batsman to score a four hundred in Ranji Trophy.

Batting records III

Rishabh Pant was brilliant throughout the 2017-18 season

Fastest century: In the 2016-17 season, Delhi batsman Rishabh Pant created numerous records among which his record for the fastest century in Ranji Trophy stood out. He took just 48 balls to reach the three-figure mark against Jharkhand in Trivandrum. He was eventually dismissed for 135 off 67 balls with eight fours and 12 sixes.

Most sixes in an innings: In the same match in which Rishabh Pant recorded the fastest Ranji Trophy century, his India under-19 teammate and Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan equalled the record for the most sixes in a Ranji Trophy innings. The 18-year-old smashed 14 sixes in his knock of 273 runs off 336 balls a couple of days before Pant went mad and equalled the record of Himachal Pradesh's Shakti Singh, who had hit 14 sixes against Haryana in November 1990.

Highest partnership: Maharashtra pair of Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne put on an unbeaten 594-run partnership for the third wicket against Delhi at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in 2016. Skipper Gugale scored a career-best unbeaten 351 while Bawne was not out on 258 when the innings was declared.

Had they scored 30 more runs, they would have broken the highest partnership in first-class cricket but Gugale admitted that he wasn't aware of the record when he declared the innings.

Most runs in a season: Former Indian middle-order batsman VVS Laxman scored 1415 runs for Hyderabad in the 1999/00 season and made a strong case for himself as he was in and out of the Indian team at the time. The likes of Shreyas Iyer and Priyank Panchal threatened to break it but they finished their respective Ranji seasons within striking distance of the Hyderabadi's record.

Bowling records I

A file photo of Rajinder Goel

Most wickets: Former Haryana spinner Rajinder Goel is one of the unluckiest cricketers to have been born in India as his tally of 640 (some say 637, some say 640) wickets wasn't enough for him to find a place in the Indian squad as his rise coincided with India's greatest spin quartet. Irrespective of whether it is 637 or 640, Rajinder holds the record for most wickets in the history of the tournament.

Most five-wicket hauls: Once again, the slow left-arm spinner from Haryana, Rajinder Goel, tops a bowling chart as he has taken 53 five-wicket hauls in his Ranji Trophy career, the most by any bowler.

Most wickets in a season: In the 1974-75 season, Delhi spinner Bishan Singh Bedi created history by taking 64 wickets, a record that still stands.

Bowling records II

Anil Kumble has the best bowling figures in a Ranji Trophy match

Best bowling in an innings: On two occasions, the Ranji Trophy has seen bowlers taking ten wickets in a single innings. Bengal's Premangsu Chatterjee and Rajasthan's Pradeep Sunderam were the only bowlers to do so. But, Premangsu owns the record for the best bowling figures in an innings as he conceded just 20 runs against Assam in the 1956-57 season when compared to Pradeep's 78 runs against Vidarbha in the 1985/86 season.

Best bowling in a match: Once again, this record is held by three bowlers who took 16 wickets each in a match. But, Karnataka's Anil Kumble conceded 99 runs whilst taking 16 wickets against Kerala in the 1994-95 season while the other two bowlers, Rajasthan's Pradeep Sunderam and Madhya Pradesh's Jalaj Saxena (now playing for Kerala) conceded 154 runs each against Vidarbha (1985/86) and Railways (2015-16) respectively.