In the sixth edition of the Ranji Trophy that is the Ranji Trophy, 1940-41, there were a number of 16 teams competed with each other for the trophy. The teams included the likes of Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Delhi, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Madras, Maharashtra, Mysore, Northern India, Nawanagar, North West Frontier Province Squad, Southern Punjab, Sind, United Province and Western India. The teams of Nawanagar and Western India started the tournament when they met with each other at Jamnagar from 08-10 November, 1940. It was a hardly fought and exciting match where the Western India side eventually became successful to clinch the victory by a small margin of 2 wickets. The second match was played between Maharashtra and Bombay at Poona from 15-19 November, 1940 and the Maharashtra team was declared as the winner of the drawn match, for having a lead in the first innings. The third match saw a clash between the teams of North West Frontier Province and the Northern India and the match was held at Peshawar from 15-17 November, 1940. The winner of the match was the Northern India side with a margin of 2 wickets.

In the fourth match of the tournament, the teams like Southern Punjab and Delhi met with each other at Patiala from 15-16 November, 1940. The Southern Punjab team dominated the Delhi team throughout the match and eventually won it by a huge margin of an innings and 58 runs. The fifth match of the Ranji Trophy, 1940-41 involved the teams of Bihar and Bengal and the match was played at Jamshedpur from 30 November-02 December, 1940. The Bengal team did well to get a lead in the first innings of the drawn match and that ultimately made them the winner of the match. The Western India and the Sind sides clashed in the sixth match of the tournament at Rajkot from 01-03 December, 1940. The match was quite a competitive one and eventually the Western India side won it by 6 wickets. The Bengal team then met with the United Provinces team in the seventh match of the Ranji Trophy, 1940-41, held at Calcutta from 07-09 December, 1940. The Bengal team was defeated by the United Province team with a margin of 144 runs in the match.

The eighth match of the Ranji Trophy, 1940-41 saw a hard battle between the teams of Madras and Mysore at Madras from 14-16 December, 1940. The match was drawn and the match officials announced Madras as the winner of the match, as it was having a lead in the first innings. The Madras team appeared in the ninth match of the tournament also, when they clashed with the Hyderabad team at Madras from 30 December, 1940 - 01 January, 1941. Madras played well in this match also and clinched the victory with quite a big margin of 254 runs. The tenth match of the Ranji Trophy, 1940-41 saw the teams of Gujarat and Baroda playing with each other at Gujarat. The Gujarat team was declared as the winner of the match without a single ball bowled, as the Baroda team could not appear on the field. The next match was played by the sides of Northern India and Southern Punjab and this match also saw a walkover. The Northern India side was declared the winner, as the Southern Punjab team failed to come to the field.

The Gujarat and Maharashtra teams then met with each other in the twelfth match of the Ranji Trophy, 1940-41 at Ahmedabad from 13-15 January, 1941. Maharashtra once again became the winner of a match due to having a lead in the first innings, in this match. The first Semi-Final match of the tournament was held between the teams of Madras and United Provinces at Madras from 06-09 February, 1941. The Madras team did well to win the match by 25 runs and entered the Final of the tournament. The last match of the group level of the Ranji Trophy, 1940-41 involved the teams of Western India and Maharashtra at Rajkot from 08-10 February, 1941. The Maharashtra team played well to win the match for their lead in the first innings and that helped them to set up a clash with the Northern India side in the second Semi-Final match.

The second Semi-Final match of the Ranji Trophy, 1940-41 was played between the teams of Maharashtra and Northern India at Poona from 22-25 February, 1941. Both the sides played equally well in the match and as a result, the match became a drawn one. However, as the Maharashtra team had a lead in the first innings, it was declared as the winner and got an entry in the Final of the tournament. In the Final match of the Ranji Trophy, 1940-41, which was held at Madras from 07-09 March, 1941, the two teams of Madras and Maharashtra locked their horns together. None of the teams was ready to gift their opponents an easy win, however, the Maharashtra team became successful to eventually clinch the victory in the match with a margin of 6 wickets and won the trophy.