2002–03 Ranji Trophy

2002-03 Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy, which the winners get.
Administrator(s)	BCCI
Cricket format	First-class cricket
Tournament format(s)	League and knockout
Champions	Mumbai (35th title)
Participants	27
Most runs	Gautam Gambhir (Delhi) (833)
Most wickets	Lakshmipathy Balaji (Tamil Nadu) and Sunil Joshi (47)

The 2002–03 Ranji Trophy was the 69th season of the Ranji Trophy. Mumbai defeated Tamil Nadu by 141 runs in the final.

Format

The major change in the format of the tournament was the introduction of the Elite and Plate divisions. The 15 teams which qualified from the Zonal league in the previous season were placed in two groups in the upper Elite division. The top two teams from each group qualified for the semifinal and then played for the Ranji title. The remaining twelve teams played each other in two groups in the Plate division. They played the Plate semifinal and the final. The finalists qualified for the Elite division in the next year while the two lowest placed teams in the Elite division were demoted.

Karnataka and Kerala were promoted to the Elite division for 2003-04. This meant that five of the six South Zone teams played in the Elite division. Himachal Pradesh and Orissa were demoted to the Plate.

Scorecards and averages

• Cricketarchive

Knockout Matches

Plate Semifinal 1

18-21 January 2003 Scorecard

Kerala	v	Madhya Pradesh
156 (68.3 overs) C Hemanth Kumar 43 (79) Harvinder Sodhi 3/26 (10 overs)		112 (70.5 overs) Amay Khurasiya 42 (88) K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan 3/29 (14 overs)
185 (81.4 overs) Suresh Kumar 58 (111) Narendra Hirwani 4/58 (31.4 overs)		161 (69.1 overs) Amay Khurasiya 77 (113) Sreekumar Nair 5/66 (13 overs)

Kerala won by 68 runs Nehru Stadium, Kochi Umpires: VM Gupte and SM Bandedkar

• Kerala won the toss and elected to bat.
• Kerala advances to the Ranji Trophy Plate final

Plate Semifinal 2

27-31 January 2003 Scorecard

Karnataka	v	Vidarbha
364 (139.5 overs) Barrington Rowland 124 (306) Chandrashekar Atram 3/71 (19 overs)		236 (76.5 overs) Vivek Naidu 43 (101) Sunil Joshi 5/45 (26.5 overs)
607/9d (147 overs) Deepak Chougule 166 (282) Alind Naidu 2/42 (7 overs)		270 (78.5 overs) Ranjit Paradkar 70 (160) Sunil Joshi 4/51 (28 overs)

Karnataka won by 465 runs Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur Umpires: V Chopra and Devendra Sharma

• Karnataka advances to the Ranji Trophy Plate final

Plate Final

4-6 March 2003 Scorecard

Kerala	v	Karnataka
190 (77.3 overs) Hemanth Kumar 48 (128) Sunil Joshi 6/62 (30 overs)		405 (129.1 overs) Sudhindra Shinde 84 (136) K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan 5/118 (37 overs)
204 (59.3 overs) Hemanth Kumar 44 (130) Sunil Joshi 6/75 (23.3 overs)

Karnataka won by an innings and 11 runs M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore Umpires: SK Sharma and Jasbir Singh

• Kerala won the toss and elected to bat

Final

4–8 May 2003 Scorecard

Mumbai	v	Tamil Nadu
260 (91 overs) Wasim Jaffer 83 (154) Somasetty Suresh 3/51 (18 overs)		271 (115.3 overs) Sadagoppan Ramesh 85 (202) Ajit Agarkar 4/57 (29 overs)
387/7 d (105 overs) Nishit Shetty 100 (133) MR Shrinivas 3/73 (21 overs)		235 (100.4 overs) Hemang Badani 109 (220) Sairaj Bahutule 5/70 (30.4 overs)

Mumbai won by 141 runs Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: V Chopra and NN Menon

• Mumbai won the toss and elected to bat.