Ranji Trophy Quarterfinals: Complete Preview of All Four Matches, Stats and All You Need to Know

The Ranji Trophy enters the knockout stages as eight teams will be locking horns against each other for the domestic crown.

Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Saurashtra, Punjab, Karnataka and Uttarakhand have qualified for the quarterfinals.

With the biggest domestic crowns up for grabs, the teams will be aiming to come good in the final rounds of the campaign. The matches start from Tuesday (January 31) in four different venues.

Ranji Trophy 2023 Quarter Final, Semi Final & Final Schedule: Date, Venues, TV Channel & Live Streaming Info Ranji Trophy 2023 Quarter Final, Semi Final & Final Schedule: Date, Venues, TV Channel & Live Streaming Info

Bengal vs Jharkhand:

Two Eastern states will be taking on each other at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Bengal finished top in the Elite Group A table while Jharkhand qualified as the runners-up of Group C. Traditionally, Bengal have had the upper hand in this tie but the Jharkhand side have looked formidable in this year.

Jharkhand beat the likes of Services, Puducherry in the league round, while Bengal overcame Baroda, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and had innings lead against Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Stats:

Bengal Top Run-Scorer: Abhimanyu Easwaran (633 Runs)

Jharkhand Top Run-Scorer: Saurabh Tiwary (653 Runs)

Bengal Top Wicket taker: No players among top 50 wicket takers

Jharkhand Top Wicket taker: Shahbaz Nadeem (41 wickets)

Saurashtra vs Punjab:

Saurashtra, who qualified as the runners-up of Elite Group B, will be up against a buoyant Punjab side in Rajkot. Punjab are yet to lose a match in this Ranji season and will be hoping to continue their merry run against the Westerners.

Saurashtra registered impressive wins over Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi, but they have lost their last two league games against Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Punjab have won their last three matches on the other hand, winning over Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh.

Stats:

Punjab Top Run-Scorer: No Players Listed Among Top 50 scorers

Saurashtra Top Run-Scorer: Harvik Desai (516 Runs)

Punjab Top Wicket Taker: Baltej Singh (34 wickets)

Saurashtra Top Wicket Taker: D. Jadeja (29 wickets)

Karnataka vs Uttarakhand:

Karnataka will face a tricky Uttarakhand side at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

The Southern state's campaign has been flawless so far as they won 4 of their seven league games, without a single loss. They qualified as the winners of Elite Group C. Their opponents Uttarakhand finished as runners-up in Group A and have drawn their last four matches.

Karnataka also registered the most number of points in the group stage among all the groups, as they racked 35 points at the end of the league stage.

Stats:

Karnataka Top Run-Scorer: Mayank Agarwal (603 Runs)

Uttarakhand Top Run-Scorer: Kunal Chandela (509 Runs)

Karnataka Top Wicket Taker: Vijaykumar Vyshak (27 wickets)

Uttarakhand Top Wicket Taker: Mayank Mishra (32 wickets)

Madhya Pradesh vs Andhra Pradesh:

Madhya Pradesh will be taking on Andhra Pradesh in the final quarter-final tie at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.

MP qualified as Elite Group D winners while Andhra topped Elite Group B. Andhra were a huge surprise as they were not at all the favourites to prevail in the group of death, which consisted the likes of Mumbai, Saurashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.

MP, on the other hand, started their campaign with five consecutive victories, but slumped to a late defeat at the hands of Punjab which had minimal consequences. With both teams having some massive names in their ranks, this one promises to be an enthralling encounter.