1995–96 Ranji Trophy

{{Infobox cricket tournament

| name = 1995-96 Ranji Trophy

| image = Ranji_trophy.jpg

| imagesize = 297px

| fromdate =

| todate =

| caption = The Ranji Trophy, which the winners get.

| administrator = BCCI

| cricket format = First-class cricket

| tournament format = League and knockout

| host =

| champions = Karnataka

| count = 4

| participants = 26

| matches =

| attendance =

| player of the series =

| most runs = M. V. Sridhar (Hyderabad) (868){{cite web|title=Ranji Trophy, 1995/96 / Records / Most runs |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/1/Ranji_Trophy_1995-96/Batting_by_Runs.html|access-date=23 July 2015}}

| most wickets = Sunil Joshi (Karnataka) (52){{cite web|title=Ranji Trophy, 1995/96 / Records / Most wickets |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/1/Ranji_Trophy_1995-96/Bowling_by_Wickets.html|access-date=23 July 2015}}

| website =

| previous_year = 1994–95

| previous_tournament = 1994–95 Ranji Trophy

| next_year = 1996–97

| next_tournament = 1996–97 Ranji Trophy

}}

The 1995–96 Ranji Trophy was the 62nd season of the Ranji Trophy. Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu on first innings lead in the finals. For the first time, three teams in the semifinals were from the same zone - Hyderabad being the third team from the South Zone.

Sunil Joshi became the first, and as of 2015 the only, player to do the double of 500 runs and 50 wickets in a season.

Knockout stage

{{Round4

| seed-width = 25px

| team-width = 100px

| score-width = 110px

||Tamil Nadu|272 & 220/2|Delhi|256 & 232

||Karnataka|423 & 312|Hyderabad|188 & 363/7

||Tamil Nadu|370 & 31/3|Karnataka|620/8d & 277/6d

}}

= Quarter-finals =

{{Two-innings cricket match

| date = 26 February – 1 March 1996

| round = 1st Quarter-final

| team1 = Karnataka (H)

| team2 = Baroda

| score-team1-inns1 = 480 (138.3 overs)

| runs-team1-inns1 = Kartik Jeshwant 138

| wickets-team1-inns1 = R. A. Swaroop 4/84 (31.3 overs)

| score-team2-inns1 = 213 (66.5 overs)

| runs-team2-inns1 = Kiran More 49

| wickets-team2-inns1 = David Johnson 5/91 (22 overs)

| score-team1-inns2 =

| runs-team1-inns2 =

| wickets-team1-inns2 =

| score-team2-inns2 = 188 (57 overs)

| runs-team2-inns2 = Mukesh Narula 41*

| wickets-team2-inns2 = Rangarao Ananth 4/57 (18 overs)

| result = Karnataka won by an innings and 79 runs

| report = [http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1995-96/IND_LOCAL/RANJI/KNOCK-OUTS/KNTKA_BARODA_RJI-QF1_26FEB-01MAR1996.html Scorecard]

| venue = Rajinder Singh Institute Ground, Bangalore

| umpires = K. S. Giridharan and Jasbir Singh

| motm =

| toss = Baroda won the toss and elected to field.

| rain =

| notes = Kartik Jeshwant (Karnataka) reached 100 wickets in first-class cricket.{{CricketArchive|ref=Archive/Scorecards/61/61892|name=Karnataka v Baroda}}

}}

----

{{Two-innings cricket match

| date = 26 February – 1 March 1996

| round = 2nd Quarter-final

| team1 = Tamil Nadu (H)

| team2 = Bombay

| score-team1-inns1 = 246 (85.2 overs)

| runs-team1-inns1 = Sridharan Sharath 86

| wickets-team1-inns1 = Sairaj Bahutule 5/91 (33.2 overs)

| score-team2-inns1 = 196 (127.5 overs)

| runs-team2-inns1 = Sulakshan Kulkarni 84*

| wickets-team2-inns1 = Balaji Rao 4/46 (26.5 overs)

| score-team1-inns2 = 250 (135.3 overs)

| runs-team1-inns2 = Sridharan Sharath 90

| wickets-team1-inns2 = Nilesh Kulkarni 3/67 (33 overs)

| score-team2-inns2 = 147 (61.3 overs)

| runs-team2-inns2 = Amol Muzumdar 58*

| wickets-team2-inns2 = Robin Singh 7/54 (22 overs)

| result = Tamil Nadu won by 153 runs

| report = [http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1995-96/IND_LOCAL/RANJI/KNOCK-OUTS/TN_BOM_RJI-QF2_26FEB-01MAR1996.html Scorecard]

| venue = Indian Cement Company Ground, Tirunelveli

| umpires = Narendra Menon and Harnarain Singh Sekhon

| motm =

| toss = Tamil Nadu won the toss and elected to bat.

| rain =

| notes =

}}

----

{{Two-innings cricket match

| date = 26 February – 1 March 1996

| round = 3rd Quarter-final

| team1 = Vidarbha

| team2 = Hyderabad (H)

| score-team1-inns1 = 409 (1661.1 overs)

| runs-team1-inns1 = Umakant Phate 115

| wickets-team1-inns1 = Narender Pal Singh 4/120 (40.1 overs)

| score-team2-inns1 = 620 (272.5 overs)

| runs-team2-inns1 = VVS Laxman 196

| wickets-team2-inns1 = Parimal Hedaoo 2/90 (35.5 overs)

| score-team1-inns2 = 32/1 (14 overs)

| runs-team1-inns2 = Manish Dosi 14*

| wickets-team1-inns2 = Vanka Pratap 1/20 (5 overs)

| score-team2-inns2 =

| runs-team2-inns2 =

| wickets-team2-inns2 =

| result = Match drawn

| report = [http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1995-96/IND_LOCAL/RANJI/KNOCK-OUTS/HYD_VIDAR_RJI-QF3_26FEB-01MAR1996.html Scorecard]

| venue = Gymkhana Ground, Secunderabad

| umpires = Sekhar Choudhary and Des Raj

| motm =

| toss = Vidarbha won the toss and elected to bat.

| rain =

| notes =

}}

----

{{Two-innings cricket match

| date = 26 February – 1 March 1996

| round = 4th Quarter-final

| team1 = Delhi (H)

| team2 = Railways

| score-team1-inns1 = 431 (140.4 overs)

| runs-team1-inns1 = Ajay Sharma 136

| wickets-team1-inns1 = 5/86 (42 overs)

| score-team2-inns1 = 223 (73.2 overs)

| runs-team2-inns1 = Vijendra Yadav 75

| wickets-team2-inns1 = Atul Wassan 6/75 (21 overs)

| score-team1-inns2 = 561/9 (183 overs)

| runs-team1-inns2 = Ajay Sharma 182

| wickets-team1-inns2 = Javed Alam 3/121 (39 overs)

| score-team2-inns2 =

| runs-team2-inns2 =

| wickets-team2-inns2 =

| result = Match Drawn

| report = [http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1995-96/IND_LOCAL/RANJI/KNOCK-OUTS/DELHI_I-RLYS_RJI-QF4_26FEB-01MAR1996.html Scorecard]

| venue = Air Force Station, Delhi

| umpires = Kutticode Murali and Rangachari Vijayaraghavan

| motm =

| toss = Delhi won the toss and elected to bat.

| rain =

| notes = Ajay Sharma (Delhi) passed 1,000 runs in first-class cricket.{{CricketArchive|ref=Archive/Scorecards/61/61890|name=Delhi v Railways}}

}}

= Semi-finals =

{{Two-innings cricket match

| date = 14–18 March 1996

| round = 1st Semi-final

| team1 = Delhi

| team2 = Tamil Nadu (H)

| score-team1-inns1 = 256 (97.2 overs)

| runs-team1-inns1 = Akash Malhotra 117

| wickets-team1-inns1 = Divakar Vasu 5/71 (28 overs)

| score-team2-inns1 = 272 (103 overs)

| runs-team2-inns1 = Woorkeri Raman 85

| wickets-team2-inns1 = Nikhil Chopra 4/122 (35 overs)

| score-team1-inns2 = 232 (92.2 overs)

| runs-team1-inns2 = Sumeet Dogra 97

| wickets-team1-inns2 = Balaji Rao 3/46 (20 overs)

| score-team2-inns2 = 220/2 (66 overs)

| runs-team2-inns2 = Woorkeri Raman 116

| wickets-team2-inns2 = Atul Wassan 1/28 (11 overs)

| result = Tamil Nadu won by 8 wickets

| report = [http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1995-96/IND_LOCAL/RANJI/KNOCK-OUTS/TN_DELHI_RJI-SEMI1_14-18MAR1996.html Scorecard]

| venue = MA Chidambaram Stadium, Madras

| umpires = Purnachandra Godbole and M. R. Singh

| motm =

| toss = Delhi won the toss and elected to bat.

| rain =

| notes = Padmanabhan Rajesh (Tamil Nadu) made his first-class debut.

}}

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{{Two-innings cricket match

| date = 14–18 March 1996

| round = 2nd Semi-final

| team1 = Karnataka (H)

| team2 = Hyderabad

| score-team1-inns1 = 423 (134.5 overs)

| runs-team1-inns1 = Rahul Dravid 153

| wickets-team1-inns1 = Mohammad Mohiuddin 3/101 (23 overs)

| score-team2-inns1 = 188 (67 overs)

| runs-team2-inns1 = Noel David 57

| wickets-team2-inns1 = Sunil Joshi 4/58 (24 overs)

| score-team1-inns2 = 312 (116.3 overs)

| runs-team1-inns2 = Kartik Jeshwant 85

| wickets-team1-inns2 = Ramakrishnan Sridhar 3/58 (43 overs)

| score-team2-inns2 = 363/7 (132 overs)

| runs-team2-inns2 = VVS Laxman 203*

| wickets-team2-inns2 = Sunil Joshi 5/126 (59 overs)

| result = Match drawn (Karnataka won on first innings lead)

| report = [http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1995-96/IND_LOCAL/RANJI/KNOCK-OUTS/KNTKA_HYD_RJI-SEMI2_14-18MAR1996.html Scorecard]

| venue = M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

| umpires = Chandra Sathe and Surinder Kumar Sharma

| motm =

| toss = Karnataka won the toss and elected to bat.

| rain =

| notes = Mansur Ali Khan (Karnataka) made his first-class debut.

Sujith Somasunder and Rahul Dravid (Karnataka) passed 1,000 and 4,000 runs respectively in first-class cricket.
VVS Laxman (Hyderabad) passed 1,000 runs for the first-class season.

}}