The 2019–20 Ranji Trophy was the 86th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India.^[1] It took place between December 2019 and March 2020.^[2][3] Chandigarh competed in the Ranji Trophy for the first time.^[4] Vidarbha were the defending champions.^[5][6]

Quick Facts Dates, Administrator(s) ...

2019–20 Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy, awarded to the winners
Dates	9 December 2019 – 13 March 2020
Administrator(s)	BCCI
Cricket format	First-class cricket
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin then knockout
Host(s)	India
Champions	Saurashtra (1st title)
Participants	38
Matches	169
Most runs	Rahul Dalal (1,340) (Arunachal Pradesh)
Most wickets	Jaydev Unadkat (67) (Saurashtra)
← 2018–19 2020–21 →

Close

In the opening round of fixtures, Vidarbha's Wasim Jaffer became the first cricketer to play in 150 matches in the Ranji Trophy.^[7][8] In January 2020, in the round seven match between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh's Ravi Yadav became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in his first over on his debut in a first-class cricket match.^[9] On 12 February 2020, the Plate Group fixture between Chandigarh and Manipur was the 60,000th first-class cricket match to be played.^[10][11]

Ahead of the final round of group stage matches, Gujarat, Saurashtra and Andhra had qualified for the quarter-finals, with fourteen teams in contention for the remaining five places.^[12] Goa qualified from the Plate Group, after beating Mizoram inside two days.^[13] Following the final group stage games, Bengal from Group A,^[14] Karnataka from Group B,^[15] Jammu & Kashmir from Group C,^[16] and Odisha, also from Group C, had all qualified for the quarter-finals.^[17] Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka and Saurashtra all progressed from the quarter-finals to the semi-finals of the tournament.^[18]

Bengal reached the final for the first time since the 2006–07 tournament, after beating Karnataka by 174 runs.^[19] Saurashtra beat Gujarat by 92 runs to advance to the final for the fourth time in the last eight seasons.^[20] The final finished in a draw, with Saurashtra winning their maiden title, with a lead in the first innings of the match.^[21][22]

The tournament retained the same format as the previous edition of the competition.^[23] The tournament had four groups, with nine teams each in Groups A, B, and ten teams in Group C and the Plate Group. The top two teams from Group C and the top team in the Plate Group progressed to the quarter-finals of the tournament, along with the top five teams across Groups A and B.^[24] A neutral curator was appointed to select the wicket for each fixture.^[25]

In July 2019, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) considered the use of the Decision Review System (DRS) for matches in the knockout section of the tournament.^[26] The BCCI agreed to use a "limited DRS" system, which does not use Hawk-Eye and UltraEdge.^[27]

The following player transfers were approved ahead of the season. The new team, Chandigarh, transferred few players from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.^[28]

The teams were placed in the following groups, based on their performance from the previous edition. Chandigarh competed in the tournament for the first time.^[42][43]