Irani Trophy

Irani Trophy

Countries	India
Administrator	BCCI
Format	First-class cricket
First edition	1959–60
Latest edition	2025–26
Next edition	2026–27
Tournament format	One-off
Number of teams	2
Current champion	Vidarbha (3rd title)
Most successful	Rest of India (30 titles)
Qualification	Ranji Trophy
Most runs	Wasim Jaffer (1,294)
Most wickets	Padmakar Shivalkar (51)

The Irani Trophy, also known as the Z R Irani Trophy, is an annual one-off First-Class cricket match organised by the BCCI and contested each season by the reigning Ranji Trophy champions and a multi-state RoI team composed of players from the other state teams. The inaugural edition was played in March 1960 as a special event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Ranji Trophy. It was intended to be a one-off match but, in 1962, BCCI decided to institute it as annual fixture and it has been played in most seasons since 1962–63. BCCI named the Irani Trophy after Zal R. Irani, their long-serving president and treasurer, who was a significant figure in the organisation from its inception in 1928, till his death in 1970.

History

The first match between the Ranji Trophy champions and the Rest of India was played in 1959–60. It was intended to be a one-off event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Ranji Trophy. In 1962, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to resurrect it as an annual event, although it did not take place in 1964–65. The trophy was named in honour of Zal R. Irani, who was a long time treasurer and president of BCCI, and a keen patron of the game. The first three matches were played towards the end of the season but then, having recognised the fixture's prestige, BCCI moved it to the beginning of the season and, from 1965–66 to 2012–13, it traditionally heralded the start of each new domestic season.

In 2013, the fixture was moved to a date immediately after the Ranji Trophy final, resulting in there being two Irani Cup matches in the 2012/13 season. The fixture has since remained at the end of the season, and is played shortly after the Ranji Trophy final. Two matches were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, in 2022, BCCI decided to organise two editions back-to-back. These were the 2019–20 and 2022–23 matches, which were played at Rajkot and Indore respectively.

Results

The following table lists the results of all Irani Trophy matches. The source shows that ROI have taken part in all 61 matches to the most recent in October 2023, winning 26 with 25 losses and eight draws. By far the most appearances by a single state side is 29 by Mumbai, who have won the trophy twelve times. Karnataka have played in eight matches, winning six; and Delhi in seven, winning two. Four teams have appeared twice: Railways (two wins); Vidarbha (two draws); Rajasthan (two defeats); and Saurashtra (two defeats). Another nine teams have appeared once.

Season	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	Result	Notes	Refs
1959–60	Karnail Singh Stadium, Delhi	Mumbai	Rest of India	match drawn	The inaugural match was meant to be a one-off event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Ranji Trophy. Bombay won the drawn game by achieving first innings lead. Three Test batsmen — Polly Umrigar, Nari Contractor, and M. L. Jaisimha — scored centuries in the match.
1960–61	no competition
1961–62
1962–63	Brabourne Stadium	Mumbai	Rest of India	match drawn	Bombay won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1963–64	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Stadium			109 runs
1964–65	no competition
1965–66	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Chennai)	—N/a	—N/a	match drawn	Although this match was drawn, the first innings lead tie-break rule could not be enforced since both first innings were not completed. Bombay and Rest of India shared the trophy.
1966–67	Eden Gardens	Rest of India	Mumbai	6 wickets
1967–68	Brabourne Stadium	Mumbai	Rest of India	match drawn	Bombay won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1968–69		Rest of India	Mumbai	119 runs
1969–70	Pune Club Ground	Mumbai	Rest of India	match drawn	Bombay won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1970–71	Eden Gardens			match drawn	Bombay won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1971–72	Brabourne Stadium	Rest of India	Mumbai	119 runs
1972–73	Nehru Stadium, Pune	Mumbai	Rest of India	220 runs
1973–74	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium	Rest of India	Mumbai	match drawn	Rest of India won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1974–75	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Navrangpura	Karnataka	Rest of India	match drawn	Karnataka won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1975–76	Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground	Mumbai		match drawn	Bombay won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1976–77	Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium			10 wickets
1977–78	Wankhede Stadium	Rest of India	Mumbai	innings and 168 runs
1978–79	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium		Karnataka	9 wickets
1979–80	Gandhi Stadium	—N/a	—N/a	abandoned	Heavy rain caused the match between ROI and Delhi to be abandoned without a ball bowled. No toss was made and the Irani Cup was shared.
1980–81	Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium	Delhi	Rest of India	match drawn	Delhi won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1981–82	Nehru Stadium, Indore	Mumbai		match drawn	Bombay won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1982–83	Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium	Rest of India	Delhi	5 wickets
1983–84	Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground	Karnataka	Rest of India	match drawn	Karnataka won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1984–85	Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium	Rest of India	Mumbai	4 wickets
1985–86	Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground	Mumbai	Rest of India	match drawn	Bombay won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1986–87	Barkatullah Khan Stadium	Rest of India	Delhi	innings and 232 runs
1987–88	Gymkhana Ground, Secunderabad	Hyderabad	Rest of India	match drawn	Hyderabad won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1988–89	M. A. Chidambaram Stadium	Tamil Nadu		3 wickets
1989–90	Wankhede Stadium	Delhi		309 runs
1990–91	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium	Rest of India	Bengal	match drawn	Rest of India won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1991–92	Nahar Singh Stadium	Haryana	Rest of India	4 wickets
1992–93	Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium	Rest of India	Delhi	innings and 122 runs
1993–94	Punjab Agricultural University Stadium		Punjab	181 runs
1994–95	Wankhede Stadium	Mumbai	Rest of India	match drawn	Bombay won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1995–96				9 wickets
1996–97	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium	Karnataka		5 wickets
1997–98	Wankhede Stadium	Mumbai		54 runs
1998–99	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium	Karnataka		match drawn	Karnataka won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
1999–2000		Rest of India	Karnataka	innings and 60 runs
2000–01	Wankhede Stadium		Mumbai	10 wickets
2001–02	Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground		Baroda	6 wickets
2002–03	Karnail Singh Stadium	Railways	Rest of India	5 wickets
2003–04	M. A. Chidambaram Stadium	Rest of India	Mumbai	3 wickets
2004–05	I. S. Bindra Stadium			290 runs
2005–06	Karnail Singh Stadium	Railways	Rest of India	9 wickets
2006–07	Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground	Rest of India	Uttar Pradesh	9 wickets
2007–08	Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground		Mumbai	9 wickets
2008–09	Reliance Stadium		Delhi	187 runs
2009–10	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium		Mumbai	match drawn	Rest of India won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
2010–11	Sawai Mansingh Stadium			361 runs
2011–12			Rajasthan	404 runs
2012–13	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium			innings and 79 runs
2013	Wankhede Stadium		Mumbai	match drawn	Rest of India won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
2013–14	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium	Karnataka	Rest of India	innings and 222 runs
2014–15				246 runs
2015–16	Brabourne Stadium	Rest of India	Mumbai	4 wickets
2016–17			Gujarat	6 wickets
2017–18	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium	Vidarbha	Rest of India	match drawn	Vidarbha won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
2018–19				match drawn	Vidarbha won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
2019–20	Niranjan Shah Stadium	Rest of India	Saurashtra	8 wickets
2020–21	In both of these seasons, the fixture was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22
2022–23	Captain Roop Singh Stadium	Rest of India	Madhya Pradesh	238 runs
2023–24	Niranjan Shah Stadium		Saurashtra	175 runs
2024–25	Ekana Cricket Stadium	Mumbai	Rest of India	match drawn	Mumbai won the Irani Cup through their first innings lead.
2025–26	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium	Vidarbha		93 runs

Statistics

Team statistics

	Appearances
Team	Total	Champions	Runners-up	Shared/No Result
Rest of India	62	30	30	2
Mumbai	30	15	14	1
Karnataka	8	6	2	—N/a
Delhi	7	2	4	1
Railways	2	2	0	—N/a
Rajasthan	2	0	2	—N/a
Vidarbha	3	3	0	—N/a
Saurashtra	2	0	2	—N/a
Hyderabad	1	1	0	—N/a
Tamil Nadu	1	1	0	—N/a
Haryana	1	1	0	—N/a
Bengal	1	0	1	—N/a
Punjab	1	0	1	—N/a
Baroda	1	0	1	—N/a
Uttar Pradesh	1	0	1	—N/a
Gujarat	1	0	1	—N/a
Madhya Pradesh	1	0	1	—N/a

Broadcasters

BCCI's official broadcasters Sports18 and JioCinema air the match live on TV and internet respectively. BCCI's website, bcci.tv, airs match highlights and scores.

Sponsorship

Period	Sponsor	Brand
2007–2010	World Sport Group
2010–2013	Bharti Airtel	Airtel Irani Cup
2013–2014	Star India Pvt. Ltd.	Star Irani Cup
2014–2015	Micromax Informatics	Micromax Irani Cup
2015–2022	Paytm	Paytm Irani Cup
2022–2023	Mastercard	Mastercard Irani Cup
2023–present	IDFC First Bank	IDFC First Irani Cup

External links

• Official website. BCCI.
• A brief history of the Irani Trophy. Rediff, India.
• Irani Trophy Archived 19 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. SPORT195.
• Index of all Irani Trophy matches. CricketArchive.