Ranji Trophy 2023-23: Group Stage round up; Andhra qualify crediting to Mumbai-Maharashtra miracle

The business end of the Ranji Trophy 2022/23 will commence from January 31 with eight teams squaring off in the quarterfinals. There were four spots up for grabs before the last round of matches and some interesting events unfolded.

While Kerala missed out on a spot after it failed to defeat Pondicherry. The team had the chance to make it after Rajasthan and Jharkhand lost their fixtures.

Final Round of Ranji Trophy Match turned Tables

Madhya Pradesh, the defending champions, will have a shot at a second straight title while Mumbai, runners-up of the previous season, are out in dramatic circumstances. 

Bengal, whose Ranji Trophy dream was scuppered in the 2020 final, and Karnataka, without first-class silverware since 2014-15, will be making a serious pitch. Punjab will be looking to shed bridesmaid status.

Mumbai and Maharashtra vied for a spot and a first innings lead would have been enough for either side. The teams tied in the first innings to allow Andhra to squeeze into the knockouts. Andhra had won with a bonus point against Assam and finished second with more bonus points than Maharashtra.

Then there are tickets for Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Saurashtra, who will be without three key players. Jaydev Unadkat, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja are all part of India’s Test squad to face Australia and will be part of a preparatory camp in Nagpur from February 2.

The last round of group matches helped us go from 38 teams to only eight, with the quarter-finalists identified. Checkout the teams that have qualified for the last eight stage from each group:

Andhra qualify after rare first-innings tie between Mumbai & Maharashtra

“Four wins out of seven but we are gutted to miss the knockouts. We’ll come back stronger next year.” That was Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari on Twitter on Thursday afternoon, expressing the genuine disappointment of missing out on the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals soon after beating Assam in Vizianagaram.

However, a few minutes later, Vihari’s tweet of anguish disappeared. Perhaps he knew now that with just four sessions left in the match, Mumbai and Maharashtra may not have the time to force an outright result.

Andhra had achieved their share of the bargain by winning with a bonus point but needed a miracle to qualify. They needed the Mumbai-Maharashtra game to not only end in a draw, but also with neither side taking a first-innings lead. And it happened. A first-innings tie actually happened.

Mumbai and Maharashtra vied for a spot and a first innings lead would have been enough for either side. The teams tied in the first innings to allow Andhra to squeeze into the knockouts. Andhra had won with a bonus point against Assam and finished second with more bonus points than Maharashtra.

Should the contest end in a draw on Friday, both Maharashtra and Andhra will have 26 points each while Mumbai will finish the group stage with 24 points (a draw with first innings tied will give each team one point each).

In this case, Andhra will pip Maharashtra into the quarters since the BCCI playing conditions say the team with more number of bonus points will get the preference in case of two teams on level points.

Ranji Trophy: Quarterfinal Fixtures

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