2016–17 Ranji Trophy
Cricket tournament / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 2016–17 Ranji Trophy was the 83rd season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India. Unlike previous seasons, the 2016–17 tournament was played at neutral venues.[1][2][3] Captains and coaches were supportive of the change.[4] Chhattisgarh cricket team made their debut in the competition, becoming the 28th team to compete in this edition of the Ranji Trophy.[5][6] Mumbai were the defending champions.[7] Gujarat beat Mumbai in the final by 5 wickets to win their first title.[8]
Dates | 6 October 2016 – 14 January 2017 |
---|---|
Administrator(s) | BCCI |
Cricket format | First-class cricket |
Tournament format(s) | Round-robin then knockout |
Host(s) | India |
Champions | Gujarat (1st title) |
Participants | 28 |
Most runs | Priyank Panchal (1,310) (Gujarat) |
Most wickets | Shahbaz Nadeem (56) (Jharkhand) |
← 2015–16 2017–18 → |
In September 2016, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the dates, groups and fixtures for the competition.[9] The pink ball was used in the tournament, to help the BCCI make a decision on playing a day/night Test match.[10]
In October 2016 during the Group B fixture between Maharashtra and Delhi, Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne playing for Maharashtra, set a record partnership total in the Ranji Trophy, with 594 runs. It was also the second-highest partnership in the history of first-class cricket.[11]
Two group stage fixtures, the Group A match between Gujarat and Bengal and the Group C match between Hyderabad and Tripura, were abandoned because of smog pollution.[12] Initially, the BCCI rescheduled the fixtures to take place after the conclusion of the group stages.[12] As a result of the rescheduled matches, the dates of the matches in the knockout phase of the competition were moved back to accommodate the rearranged fixtures.[12] Both the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) opposed the rescheduling of the fixtures.[13] The MCA joint-secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar said that it "gives unfair advantage to the participating teams with respect to their qualification the knockout phase".[13] Kasi Viswanathan, secretary of the TNCA, said that "the matches should not be rescheduled and that points should be shared".[13] The BCCI reviewed the decision to reschedule the matches.[14] In December 2016, they revoked the changes and awarded each team one point from the abandoned matches.[15]
Mumbai, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu from Group A, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Odisha from Group B and Hyderabad and Haryana from Group C all qualified for the knockout stage of the tournament.[16][17][18][19] The dates of the quarter-finals were brought forward by one day and the semi-finals by two days.[20] The Holkar Stadium in Indore hosted the final on 10 January 2017, two days earlier than originally planned.[20]
In the semi-finals Gujarat beat Jharkhand by 123 runs to reach only their second final in the history of the Ranji Trophy, having previously played in the 1950–51 final.[21] Mumbai beat Tamil Nadu by 6 wickets to progress to their 46th final in the Ranji Trophy.[22]