Round seven of the 2025/26 Ranji Trophy ran from January 29 to February 1, and determined the eight quarter-finalists. Here is a round-up of all the action from the seventh round.
Elite Group A
Andhra, Jharkhand, and Vidarbha all finished on 31 points after a thrilling day’s cricket across India in Group A. In the end, Jharkhand’s three bonus and Andhra’s two helped them pip Vidarbha (one) and make it to the top eight.
Chasing 201 in Nagpur, Vidarbha began the final day on 91-4, but lost only two more wickets before securing full points against Uttar Pradesh. Having secured three points on first innings at Sovima, Andhra were not too fussed as Nagaland put on 140 for the eighth wicket to avoid an outright defeat. And chasing 246 against Odisha at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand completed a four-wicket win despite being 75-2 and then 156-4. Elsewhere, Tamil Nadu and Baroda played out a draw.
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Final scores:
- Uttar Pradesh 237 (Dhruv Jurel 96; Harsh Dubey 6-63) and 200 (Parth Rekhade 3-19) lost to Vidarbha 237 (Danish Malewar 80; Shivam Mavi 7-59) and 201-6 (Aman Mokhade 83; Shivam Sharma 4-55) by six wickets.
- Nagaland 366 (Chetan Bist 189; K Saiteja 3-41) and 342 (Chetan Bist 100; Saurabh Kumar 4-116, T Vijay 5-104) drew with Andhra 536-9d (CR Gnaneshwar 227*; Vino Zhimoni 5-86) and 64-4. Andhra got first-innings lead.
- Odisha 282 (Swastik Samal 79; Aditya Singh 3-35) and 226 (Subhranshu Senapati 73; Anukul Roy 5-72, Aditya Singh 4-77) lost to Jharkhand 263 (Shikhar Mohan 80; Sayed Tufayl Ahmed 4-78) and 249-6 (Sharandeep Singh 64; Sayed Tufayl Ahmed 4-101) by four wickets.
- Baroda 375 (Atit Sheth 109; J Hemchudesan 6-120, Sai Kishore 4-90) and 124-0 (Shivalik Sharma 59*) drew with Tamil Nadu 449 (Vimal Khumar 182; Mahesh Pithiya 6-118). Tamil Nadu got first-innings lead.
Elite Group B
Kerala restricted Goa to a lead of 28 and won by nine wickets. Meanwhile, Saurashtra picked up all 10 Chandigarh wickets to win by an innings and finish on 26 points, behind only Madhya Pradesh’s 28.
That left Karnataka (21) to chase 250 against Punjab in order to qualify, but it was always going to be a challenge in fading light in the Mohali winter. They lost KL Rahul early, but captain Devdutt Padikkal, in his first match as Karnataka captain, and Mayank Agarwal (53 in 36) kept the impetus going. They slipped from 130-1 to 134-4 before Shreyas Gopal came out and smashed 33 in 22 balls. Gopal fell on 201, but Padikkal continued to counterattack, remaining unbeaten on an 85-ball 120 with six fours and five sixes. Karnataka needed only 27.5 overs to win the game.
Final scores:
- Goa 355 (Suyash Prabhudessai 86; Ankit Sharma 6-115) and 199 (Darshan Misal 55; MD Nidheesh 5-47) lost to Kerala 526-9d (Vishnu Vinod 113; Amulya Pandrekar 3-85) and 29-1 by nine wickets.
- Chandigarh 136 (Jaydev Unadkat 4-44) and 261 (Raj Angad Bawa 55; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 4-53, Chirag Jani 4-78) lost to Saurashtra 453-3d (Harvik Desai 200*) by an innings and 56 runs.
- Punjab 309 (Emanjot Singh Chahal 83; Vidyadhar Patil 4-52) and 256 (Uday Saharan 93; Shreyas Gopal 3-43) lost to Karnataka 316 (Shreyas Gopal 77; Harpreet Brar 4-125) and 252-5 (Devdutt Padikkal 120*) by five wickets.
- Games completed before day four: Madhya Pradesh 187 and 258 beat Maharashtra 179 and 133 by 133 runs.
Elite Group C
Uttarakhand joined Bengal as the second Group C team in the quarterfinal. They picked up the remaining four Assam wickets to pick up the bonus point. Elsewhere, Tripura chased 179 against Gujarat – who had declared their second innings – to win by four wickets.
The other match produced a thriller. After Services had declared on the third evening, Railways began the final day on 69-1 in pursuit of 298. Pratham Singh led the chase with 79, while Zubair Ali (58 not out) provided the finishing touches as Railways won by three wickets in the dying moments of the game.
Final scores:
- Uttarakhand 460-7d (Kunal Chandela 207; Swarupam Purkayastha 3-48) beat Assam 140 (Rituraj Biswas 62; Aditya Rawat 3-24) and 278 (Swarupam Purkayastha 73; Mayank Mishra 6-86) by an innings and 42 runs.
- Gujarat 352 (Manan Hingrajia 150*; Manisankar Murasingh 4-52) and 252-9d (Manan Hingrajia 59; Abhijit Sarkar 3-43) lost to Tripura 427 (Vijay Shankar 151*; Vishal Jayswal 4-62) and 179-6 (Sridam Paul 64) by four wickets.
- Services 343 (Anshul Gupta 101rh; Zubair Ali 4-63, Raj Choudhary 4-91) and 166-8d (Devender Lohchab 61*; Raj Choudhary 5-39) lost to Railways 212 (Zubair Ali 59; Arjun Sharma 6-79) and 298-7 (Pratham Singh 79; Pulkit Narang 5-97) by three wickets.
- Games completed before day four: Bengal 193 and 200 beat Haryana 100 and 105 by 188 runs.
Elite Group D
Jammu & Kashmir needed three points to join Mumbai as the second team to qualify from Group D: a rained-off last day against Himachal Pradesh allowed them to do that (they had earlier amassed a 603-run lead). Mumbai themselves led by 94 in the first innings and had Delhi at 206-4 when the last day’s play began, but could take only two more wickets.
Chasing 172 against Rajasthan, Puducherry became 29-2 and then 130-5, but did not lose another wicket before winning the game. Mohammed Siraj’s first win as Ranji Trophy captain did not materialise: Hyderabad had secured a 348-run first innings lead and had Chhattisgarh at 218-8, but Amandeep Khara (176 not out) and Dev Aditya Singh (79 not out) put on an unbroken 193 for the eighth wicket in 43.1 overs of batting.
Final scores:
- Himachal Pradesh 168 (Pukhraj Mann 77; Sunil Kumar 5-55) and 26-2 drew with Jammu & Kashmir 771 (Shubham Pundir 165, Kanhaiya Wadhawan 110, Abid Mushtaq 177; Rohit Kumar 4-131). Jammu & Kashmir took first-innings lead.
- Delhi 221 (Sanat Sangwan 118; Mohit Avasthi 5-62) and 407-6d (Ayush Doseja 159*; Himanshu Singh 3-86) drew with Mumbai 317 (Siddhesh Lad 103; Divij Mehra 5-64). Mumbai took first-innings lead.
- Rajasthan 168 (Deepak Choudhary 64; Karan Kannan 5-37) and 352 (Mahipal Lomror 131; Sagar Udeshi 4-88, Karan Kannan 6-139) lost to Puducherry 349 (Neyan Shyam Kangayan 120, Aman Khan 118; Mohit Changra 3-78) and 172-5 (J Shreeram 57; Mohit Changra 4-71) by five wickets.
- Chhattisgarh 283 (Prateek Yadav 106; Mohammed Siraj 4-56) and 411-8 (Amandeep Khare 176*; T Thyagarajan 3-114) drew with Hyderabad 631 (Abhirath Reddy 121, K Himateja 171, Pragnay Reddy 126). Hyderabad got first-innings lead.
