The 1996–97 Ranji One Day Trophy was the fourth edition of India's annual List A cricket tournament which became the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2007.[1][2] As in the earlier editions, the 1996–97 tournament was open to teams participating in the Ranji Trophy and it was organised on a zonal basis without national playoffs or a final, so the aim of each team was to win its zonal championship only.[3]
Tournament
All 27 teams from the Ranji Trophy competed and were divided into the five zones used for the Duleep Trophy: Central (5 teams), East (5), North (6), South (6), and West (5). The format within each zone was round-robin with the teams playing all of their zonal opponents once. Four points were awarded for a win and run rate was utilised as a tie-breaker within each league.[3] The teams played a total of 60 matches from 21 October to 27 December 1996.[1] The zonal champions were Madhya Pradesh (Central), Assam (East), Delhi (North), Tamil Nadu (South), and Mumbai (West).[3]
