Ranji Trophy is the domestic first-class tournament which is largely domestic in nature is named after India’s finest test cricket player, Ranjitsinhji, who played for England and Sussex. The first match of this series was played in 1934-35 with the help of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, who donated the trophy for the tournament.
In the following years, Ranji Trophy has reached a huge grandeur, receiving the similar status as country cricket, and has become a breeding ground for some finest breed of Indian cricketer, which led to many records being made throughout the life of the tournament.
According to me, these are some most Unique records of Ranji Trophy by the record getters in all the seasons of this tournament:-
1. Wasim Jaffer
Wasim Jaffer in his career from 1996-97 till present became the first Ranji Trophy Batsmen to have crossed 11000 runs. He is also the only batsmen in the Tournament’s history to score 1000 runs in the season, that too twice. (He had aggregated 1260 for Mumbai in 2008-09).
2. Ashutosh Aman
Bishan Singh Bedi in the 1974-75 season made a record which was unbeaten for 4 decades. The spinner took 64 wickets in the season. But, Bihar’s 32-year-old left-arm spinner Ashutosh Aman took 65 wickets in the 2018-19 season and broke the 44-year-old record for the most number of wickets in a season by a single player.
3. Snell Patel
Snell Patel, wicketkeeper of Saurashtra, made a unique record on Day 2 of the 2018/19 Ranji Trophy final between reigning champions Vidarbha and Saurashtra. Patel smashed a century during this game and became the first wicketkeeper opener batsmen outside Mumbai to score a century in the finals.
4. Rajneesh Gurbani
In the 2017/18 season of Ranji trophy, Rajneesh Gurbani was the architect behind Vidarbha’s win as he took 39 wickets and made a record of most wickets by a seam bowler in a season. In the knockout stages of the tournament with an average of 14.11, Gurbani picked up 27 wickets, which were 12 more than any other bowlers.
5. Rishab Pant
In the last season of Ranji Trophy, Rishabh Pant as the captain of Delhi’s The team became the youngest players to ever lead a team as a captain in Ranji Trophy Finals. The record earlier belonged to Tendulkar when he led the Mumbai team into 1994-95 finals at the age of 21 years and 337 days, but Pant broke this record as he captained Delhi’s team in last year’s final at age of 20 years and 86 days.
6. Ajay Rohera
Ajay Rohera, the opener for Madhya Pradesh broke the world record during their Ranji trophy against Hyderabad this season and became the player with highest first-class debut- score. Rohera scored an unbeaten 267 to beat the previous record of former Mumbai player’s Amol Mazumdar of 260 runs.
7. Hyderabad
The regional team of Hyderabad holds not just one but two unique records in the record book of Ranji Trophy. As surprising it may sound by Hyderabad has both the highest and lowest team score. The 1993-94 has the record of highest innings total whereas the 2010-11 team has the record of lowest score of 944 runs and 21 runs respectively.
8. Gujarat
Gujarat in the history of Ranji Trophy holds the record, about which they can’t particularly flaunt about. Gujarat has his name in the Ranji Trophy record book for the longest wait for title win. Gujarat with their hard work and determination were finally able to end this draught after 83 seasons of Ranji Trophy.
9. B. Kalyanasundaram
B. Kalyanasundaram began his Ranji carrier with the domestic team of Kerala in 1966-67, but two years later switched to his home state team of Karnataka and played there for 10 years. He took a Hat-trick against Bombay in 1972-73 Ranji Trophy finals and became the first and only bowler to take a hat-trick in Ranji Trophy Finals. He was director of CSK in 2015 season.
10. B. B. Nimbalkar
B.B. Nimbalkar was an Indian Cricketer who registered his name in the records books of Ranji for the highest individual score of 443 not out in the 1948-49 in a match against Kathiawar and he also has the only quadruple century, in first-class Indian Cricket. His score is the highest for a player who has never played a test cricket match.
11. Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja holds the record for most number of the triple century in Ranji Trophy. He has scored a triple century on 3 different occasion, which is the most for any Ranji Trophy player. His 1st triple century came against Odisha (the Year 2011), 2nd came against Gujarat (Year-2012) and the last against Railways which is also his highest first-class score (Year-2012)
12. Rajinder Goel
Rajinder Goel in a former Indian cricketer who holds the record of most wicket taker in the Ranji Trophy. He took a total of 637 wickets in his Ranji carrier which leads to him making the record for most wicket ever taken in Ranji by a bowler in his Ranji carrier.
13. Mumbai
The Mumbai Cricket team is the team that holds the record for the most number of title win by any Ranji team in the history of Ranji Trophy. Out of the total of 84 seasons of Ranji Trophy, 41 of them were won by Mumbai, which is the most number of title wins for any Ranji Team. The team also as 14 Irani Cup titles, which is also the most by any team.
14. V.V.S. Laxman
V.V.V Laxman is former Indian Cricketer and currently cricket commentator. Laxman in his domestic carrier of Ranji Trophy made the record of most run scored by a player in a particular season. Laxman scored 1415 runs, which is the most run scored by a player in a season, in the 1999-2000 year’s season of Ranji leading his team Hyderabad to the finals that year against Mumbai.
15. Premangsu Mohan Chatterjee
Premangsu Mohan Chatterjee represented Bengal in Ranji trophy, he was a left-arm medium bowler. In January 1957, in a match against Assam, he took all 10 wickets in opponent’s first innings only, leading him to register his name in the record book of Ranji as the player with the best bowling figures in an innings, which was also the best ever achieved in first-class cricket outside the UK.
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