Lowest team totals in Ranji Trophy history: Hyderabad hold unwanted record

The Ranji Trophy, named after Ranjitsinhji, the former Indian cricketer, is an Indian First Class cricket competition. Played first in the 1934/35 season, the tournament has produced some great players and showcased top performances.

Courtesy of excellent bowling performances, the Ranji Trophy has occasionally seen low scores, where bowlers have made the most of their upper hand.

There have been 14 team scores of 30 or fewer in Ranji Trophy history. Three of them belong to Jammu and Kashmir, the most by any team in this tournament. Interestingly, two of J&K’s totals were against Delhi.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad have registered the lowest team total in Ranji Trophy history after being wrapped for 21 by Rajasthan in the 2010/11 season. Deepak Chahar, the Indian pacer, picked up eight wickets, while Pankaj Singh got the other two.

In the inaugural edition, Southern Punjab got bowled out for 22 against Northern India. It held the lowest score record in the Ranji Trophy for 76 years. Baqa Jilani’s five-wicket haul headlined Northern India’s bowling performance in a 91-run victory.

Sind, in 1938/39, and Jammu Kashmir, twice (1960/61 and 1977/78), were bundled out for 23, the joint-third lowest score in the Ranji Trophy history. The J&K team’s other lowest score of the 1960/61 season, 28, completes the top 10.

Saurashtra and Hyderabad are the only two teams in the list of lowest team totals to have won the Ranji Trophy. Saurashtra achieved the feat in 2019/20, while Hyderabad did it in 1937/38 and 1986/87.

Lowest team totals in Ranji Trophy

Photo credit: Alamy