# 2019–20 Ranji Trophy

The 2019–20 Ranji Trophy was the 86th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India. It took place between December 2019 and March 2020. Chandigarh competed in the Ranji Trophy for the first time. Vidarbha were the defending champions.
In the opening round of fixtures, Vidarbha's Wasim Jaffer became the first cricketer to play in 150 matches in the Ranji Trophy. 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. On 12 February 2020, the Plate Group fixture between Chandigarh and Manipur was the 60,000th first-class cricket match to be played.
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. Goa qualified from the Plate Group, after beating Mizoram inside two days. Following the final group stage games, Bengal from Group A, Karnataka from Group B, Jammu & Kashmir from Group C, and Odisha, also from Group C, had all qualified for the quarter-finals. Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka and Saurashtra all progressed from the quarter-finals to the semi-finals of the tournament.
Bengal reached the final for the first time since the 2006–07 tournament, after beating Karnataka by 174 runs. Saurashtra beat Gujarat by 92 runs to advance to the final for the fourth time in the last eight seasons. The final finished in a draw, with Saurashtra winning their maiden title, with a lead in the first innings of the match.

## Format

The tournament retained the same format as the previous edition of the competition. 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. A neutral curator was appointed to select the wicket for each fixture.
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. The BCCI agreed to use a "limited DRS" system, which does not use Hawk-Eye and UltraEdge.

## Player transfers

The following player transfers were approved ahead of the season. The new team, Chandigarh, transferred few players from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.
| Player | From | To |
| Stuart Binny | Karnataka | Nagaland |
| Unmukt Chand | Delhi | Uttarakhand |
| C. M. Gautam | Karnataka | Goa |
| Arun Karthik | Kerala | Pondicherry |
| Abrar Kazi | Nagaland | Mizoram |
| Milind Kumar | Sikkim | Tripura |
| Vinay Kumar | Karnataka | Pondicherry |
| Shrikant Mundhe | Maharashtra | Nagaland |
| K. B. Pawan | Nagaland | Mizoram |
| Malolan Rangarajan | Uttarakhand | Tamil Nadu |
| Rahil Shah | Tamil Nadu | Uttarakhand |
| Yashpal Singh | Manipur | Sikkim |
| Dwaraka Ravi Teja | Andhra | Meghalaya |
| Robin Uthappa | Saurashtra | Kerala |

## Teams

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.

## Knockout stage

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| A1 | Gujarat | 602/8d & 199/6d | | | | | | |
| P1 | Goa | 173 & 164 | | | | | | |
| P1 | Goa | 173 & 164 | A1 | Gujarat | 252 & 234 | | | |
| | | | B2 | Saurashtra | 304 & 274 | | | |
| B2 | Saurashtra | 419 & 426 | B2 | Saurashtra | 304 & 274 | | | |
| A3 | Andhra | 136 & 149/4 | | | | | | |
| A3 | Andhra | 136 & 149/4 | | | | B2 | Saurashtra | 425 & 105/4 |
| | | | | | | A2 | Bengal | 381 |
| B1 | Karnataka | 206 & 316 | | | | | | | A2 | Bengal | 381 |
| C1 | Jammu & Kashmir | 192 & 163 | | | | | | |
| C1 | Jammu & Kashmir | 192 & 163 | B1 | Karnataka | 122 & 177 | | | |
| | | | A2 | Bengal | 312 & 161 | | | |
| A2 | Bengal | 332 & 373 | A2 | Bengal | 312 & 161 | | | |
| C2 | Odisha | 250 & 39/0 | | | | | | |

### Quarter-finals

* 20–24 February 2020 1st Quarter-final Scorecard
* Gujarat won by 464 runs Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium, Valsad Umpires: Chirra Ravikanthreddy and C. K. Nandan Player of the match: Roosh Kalaria (Gujarat)
* Gujarat won the toss and elected to bat.
* 20–24 February 2020 2nd Quarter-final Scorecard
* Match drawn DRIEMS Ground, Cuttack Umpires: Sai Darshan Kumar and Abhijit Deshmukh Player of the match: Anustup Majumdar (Bengal)
* Odisha won the toss and elected to field.
* Kanwar Singh Chohan (Odisha) made his first-class debut.
* Bengal advanced to the semi-finals due to a first-innings lead.
* 20–24 February 2020 3rd Quarter-final Scorecard
* Karnataka won by 167 runs Gandhi Memorial Science College Ground, Jammu Umpires: Ulhas Gandhe and Pashchim Pathak Player of the match: Krishnamurthy Siddharth (Karnataka)
* Karnataka won the toss and elected to bat.
* Only six overs were bowled on day 1 and no play was possible on day 2 due to rain.
* 20–24 February 2020 4th Quarter-final Scorecard
* Match drawn CSR Sharma College Ground, Ongole Umpires: Nitin Pandit and Vineet Kulkarni Player of the match: Chirag Jani (Saurashtra)
* Andhra won the toss and elected to field.
* Saurashtra advanced to the semi-finals due to a first-innings lead.

### Semi-finals

* 29 February – 4 March 2020 1st Semi-final Scorecard
* Saurashtra won by 92 runs Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot Umpires: Rohan Pandit and Sundaram Ravi Player of the match: Arpit Vasavada (Saurashtra)
* Gujarat won the toss and elected to field.
* 29 February – 4 March 2020 2nd Semi-final Scorecard
* Bengal won by 174 runs Eden Gardens, Kolkata Umpires: Yeshwant Barde and Krishnamachari Srinivasan Player of the match: Anustup Majumdar (Bengal)
* Karnataka won the toss and elected to field.

### Final

* 9–13 March 2020 Final Scorecard
* Match drawn Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan, Chettithody Shamshuddin and Yeshwant Barde Player of the match: Arpit Vasavada (Saurashtra)
* Saurashtra won the toss and elected to bat.
* Sudip Kumar Gharami (Bengal) made his first-class debut.
* Umpire Chettithody Shamshuddin was injured on the first day of the final and was replaced by Yeshwant Barde.