The Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 saw the participation of 27 teams that were coming from all the parts of India. The tournament is quite famous all over the world for being the most popular and premium domestic cricket tournament in India. The organisers of the tournament, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) divided the 27 participating teams into five different zones. The zones were formed mainly depending on their geographical positions and the teams were also divided into the zone, accordingly. The zones were named as the Central Zone, East Zone, North Zone, South Zone and West Zone and the winner of the tournament was decided once the Knock out level of the tournament was finished. The participating teams in the tournament included the likes of Andhra, Assam, Baroda, Bengal, Bihar, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Hyderabad, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Railways, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Services, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and the Vidarbha.

Ranji Trophy, 1996-97, Central Zone League Matches: The Central Zone of the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 comprised of 5 teams, were mainly representing different states from the Central region of India. The tournament is well known to be the most fruitful domestic cricket tournament in India. All the teams had been participating in the tournament on a regular basis for the previous several editions and they included the likes of Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Railways. The teams played against each other first in the zonal level league matches, with a view to become one of the top three teams in the zone and then the three toppers proceeded to the knock out level of the tournament. However, the teams like Madhya Pradesh, Railways and Uttar Pradesh eventually became successful to enter into the Super League stage of the tournament.

Ranji Trophy, 1996-97, East Zone League Matches: The East Zone of the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 saw the participation of all the 5 regular teams that were playing in the tournament for the past matches. The tournament is quite famous all over the world for being the premium domestic cricket tournament in India and the East Zone teams were mainly representing different states from the Eastern region of India. The teams included the likes of Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa and Tripura and all the teams gave their best efforts for becoming one of the top three teams in the zone. The teams also tried their best to secure a berth in the Super League stage of the tournament; however, the teams like Orissa, Bengal and Bihar could eventually do so from the zone.

Ranji Trophy, 1996-97, North Zone League Matches: There were 6 teams participated under the North Zone in the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97, all the regular ones mainly representing various states from the Northern region of India. The tournament is considered to be the best and most popular domestic cricket tournament in India and the North Zone teams included the likes of Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Services and Himachal Pradesh. All the teams competed with each other very hard for claiming one of the top three spots in the zone and also to get chance for playing in the Super League stage of the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97. However, the teams like Punjab, Delhi and Haryana eventually became successful to do so from the North Zone, as they earned the highest points from the zonal level league matches.

Ranji Trophy, 1996-97, South Zone League Matches: The South Zone of the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 comprised of 6 teams and all the teams had been playing in the tournament for the past editions. The tournament has earned a lot of recognition for being one of the most popular domestic cricket tournaments in India and the South Zone teams were actually presenting different states from the Southern region of India. The teams included the likes of Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Karnataka, Hyderabad, Goa and Kerala and all the teams tried their best to become one of the top three teams in the zone. The main objective of the teams` this endeavour was to secure a berth in the Super League stage of the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 and the teams like Goa, Hyderabad and Kerala eventually did so from the zone. All the teams earned 19 points, each at the end of the zonal level league matches.

Ranji Trophy, 1996-97, West Zone League Matches: The teams that participated under the West Zone in the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 included the likes of Baroda, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Saurashtra. The Ranji Trophy is quite famous to be the premium domestic cricket tournament in India and all the West Zone participating teams were the regular participants of the tournament. Most of the teams were representing different states from the Western region of India and they played against each other in the zonal level for becoming one of the top three teams in the zone. The teams also gave their best efforts to secure a berth in the Super League stage of the tournament. However, only the teams like Mumbai, Baroda and Maharashtra eventually became successful to do so from the zone, as they earned the highest points from the zonal level league matches.

Ranji Trophy, 1996-97, Super League Matches: The Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 saw the introduction of the Super League for the first time in the history of the tournament. The Super League comprised of 3 different groups, named as the Group A, Group B and Group C. The top 15 teams from the five zones of the tournament were divided into these three groups and each of the three Super League groups comprised three teams, each. The teams like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Orissa were put into the Group A in the Super League. The Group B of the Super League comprised of the teams like Baroda, Railways, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Bengal. The Bihar, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh teams formed the Group C in the Super of the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97. All the teams gave their best efforts to get a chance for competing in the knock out level of the tournament, however, the top six teams from the three groups eventually competed with each other in the knock out level.

Ranji Trophy, 1996-97, Knock out Matches: The knock out level of the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 saw a tough competition between the top 6 teams from the Super League stage of the tournament. The teams that played against each other in the knock out matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 included the likes of Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Maharashtra, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. The teams competed with each other in the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final match of the tournament and all the teams tried their best to claim the coveted championship title. However, it was the Mumbai team that eventually became successful to win the championship title by beating the Delhi team in the Final match of the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97.