1938–39 Ranji Trophy

The 1938–39 Ranji Trophy was the fifth edition of the Ranji Trophy, an annual first-class cricket tournament in India. Matches were played from 28 October 1938 to 21 February 1939 with a total of twenty teams participating. The Army and Delhi both returned and were included in the North Zone. The sides were divided into four zonal groups, but the tournament utilised a knockout format. Bengal won their first title defeating Southern Punjab in the final.

1938–39 Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy
Dates	28 October 1938 – 21 February 1939
Administrator(s)	BCCI
Cricket format	First-class
Tournament format(s)	Knockout
Champions	Bengal (1st title)
Participants	20
Matches	20
Most runs	Naoomal Jeoomal (Sind) (418)
Most wickets	Amir Elahi (Nawanagar) (28)
Official website	http://www.bcci.tv

Teams

Although the tournament ran in a knockout format, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organised the teams by zone. Delhi and the Army rejoined North Zone although the latter did not actually play a match. United Provinces (North to East) and Rajputana (East to North) exchanged zones. The twenty teams are listed alphabetically by zone and the sides that won each zonal title are in bold.

• East Zone
• Bengal
• Bihar
• Central India (now Madhya Pradesh)
• United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh)

• North Zone
• Army (now Services)
• Delhi
• Northern India
• North West Frontier Province
• Rajputana (now Rajasthan)
• Southern Punjab (now Punjab)

• South Zone
• Hyderabad
• Madras (now Tamil Nadu)
• Mysore (now Karnataka)

• West Zone
• Baroda
• Bombay (now Mumbai)
• Gujarat
• Maharashtra
• Nawanagar
• Sind
• Western India

Highlights

• Tom Longfield was the second non-native captain to win the Ranji Trophy, after Bert Wensley in 1936–37.
• Naoomal Jeoomal of Sind scored 203* against Nawanagar out of a score of only 326.
• In the Nawanagar v Western India match, Amar Singh became the first bowler to take 100 Ranji Trophy wickets. This was his 14th Ranji Trophy match.

Zonal matches

East Zone

	Round 1				Round 2
	3 Dec 1938 – Calcutta
	Bengal	366/3d
					31 Dec 1938 – Calcutta
	Bihar	105 & 76
					Bengal	378/9d
	10 Dec 1938– Indore
					Central India	108 & 149
	Central India	170 & 279
	United Provinces	49 & 154

North Zone

	Round 1				Round 2				Round 3
	12 Nov 1938 – Patiala
	Southern Punjab	304 & 221
					2 Jan 1939— Patiala
	Rajputana	190 & 151
					Southern Punjab	379
	26 Nov 1938 – Peshawar
					North West Frontier Province	227 & 115
	North West Frontier Province	418/8d
									21 Jan 1939— Patiala
	Delhi	207 & 40
									Southern Punjab	180 & 120/1
									Northern India	116 & 123
					Northern India	Walkover
					Army

South Zone

	Round 1				Round 2
					17 Dec 1938 – Madras
					Madras	159 & 150/4
	25 Nov 1938 – Secunderabad
					Hyderabad	139 & 168
	Hyderabad	382 & 236/7
	Mysore	285 & 111/2

West Zone

	Round 1				Round 2				Round 3
					5 Nov 1938 – Karachi
					Sind	370/7
	28 Oct 1938 – Baroda
					Bombay	366
	Baroda	326
									24 Dec 1938 – Karachi
	Bombay	441
									Sind	326 & 263/7d
	4 Nov 1938 – Jamnagar
									Nawanagar	271 & 125/2
	Nawanagar	238 & 16/2
					9 Nov 1938 – Jamnagar
	Gujarat	105 & 148
					Nawanagar	168 & 184/6
	4 Nov 1938 – Rajkot
					Western India	166 & 185
	Western India	138 & 180
	Maharashtra	131 & 77

Inter-zonal knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	21 Jan 1939 – Calcutta
	Bengal	515
					18 Feb 1939 – Calcutta
	Madras	114 & 116
					Bengal	222 & 418
	10 Feb 1939 – Patiala
					Southern Punjab	328 & 134
	Southern Punjab	197 & 168/3
	Sind	339 & 23

Final

18–21 February 1939 Scorecard

Bengal (H)	v	Southern Punjab
222 (83.5 overs) Kartick Bose 48 Amir Elahi 5/73		328 (90 overs) Wazir Ali 222 Kamal Bhattacharya 5/100
418 (146.3 overs) Basil Malcolm 91 Murawwat Hussain 4/97		134 (48.4 overs) Lala Amarnath 37 Tom Longfield 4/48

Bengal won by 178 runs Eden Gardens, Calcutta Umpires: Nirmal Chatterjee, M. Dutta Ray

• Bengal won the toss and elected to bat.