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It was the fourth edition of the Ranji Trophy and by this time, the tournament had become very popular among almost all the parts of the country. The Ranji Trophy, 1937-38 saw the participation from a number of 18 teams namely Bihar, Central India, Bengal, Northern India, United Provinces, Southern Punjab, North West Frontier Province, Hyderabad, Madras, Mysore, Bombay, Sind, Western India, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Nawanagar, Baroda and the Rajputana. The North West Frontier Province and the Baroda team were the first time participants in the tournament in this edition. The tournament started with the match between Central India and Rajputana at Indore from 14-18 October, 1937. The Central India team started the tournament well by winning the match by 2 wickets.
The new entrant of the tournament, North West Frontier Province appeared for the first time in the second match against the Southern Punjab team at Patiala from 19-21 October, 1937. However, the team lost the match against the Southern Punjab by 10 wickets. The Northern India and the United Provinces team participated in the third match of the Ranji Trophy, 1937-38 and the match was held at Patiala from 22-24 October, 1937. The fourth match of the tournament saw the clash of the teams like Western India and Maharashtra at Jamnagar from 24-26 October, 1937. The Western India won the match by 78 runs. In the fifth match of the Ranji Trophy, 1937-38, the teams of Southern Punjab and Northern India met with each other at Patiala from 25-27 October, 1937. The Southern Punjab played well in the match and won it by 53 runs. The two teams of the sixth match were the Bombay and Gujarat team, who played at Jamnagar from 27-29 October, 1937 and the Bombay team won by 3 wickets in the match.
The teams of Nawanagar and another new entrant Baroda played the seventh match of the Ranji Trophy, 1937-38 and the match was played at Jamnagar from 30 October- 01 November, 1937. The Nawanagar team won the match by an innings and 275 runs. In the eighth match, there was a clash between the teams of Western India and Bombay at Jamnagar from 02-04 November, 1937. The winner of the match was Bombay with a margin of 35 runs. The Nawanagar and Sind team clashed with each other in the ninth match of the tournament at Jamnagar from 07-08 November, 1937. Nawanagar was the winner of the match with a huge margin of an innings and 144 runs. Te tenth match of the Ranji Trophy, 1937-38 was held between the teams of Bengal and Bihar at Calcutta from 04-05 November, 1937 and the Bengal team became the winner of the match by a margin of an innings and 166 runs.
In the eleventh match of the tournament, held between Madras and Mysore at Bangalore from 28-30 December, 1937, the Madras team won by a margin of 3 wickets. The Nawanagar and Bombay team clashed with each other in the next match at Jamnagar from 11-12 January, 1938 and the match saw the Nawanagar team thrashing the Bombay team by an innings and 130 runs. The last match of the group level involved the teams like Bengal and Central India and the match was held at Calcutta from 29-31 January, 1938. Bengal won the match by 28 runs and it entered the Semi-Final of the tournament. The teams that reached the Semi-Finals of the Ranji Trophy, 1937-38 included the Hyderabad, Southern Punjab, Nawanagar and Bengal and the first Semi-Final match was held between Hyderabad and Southern Punjab. However, the match was cancelled due to some unavoidable reasons and the tournament authority declared the Hyderabad team as the winner of the match. In the second Semi-Final, the teams of Nawanagar and Bengal clashed with each other and this match was also cancelled for some serious problems. The Nawanagar team was announced as the winner of the match and hence, it meat the Hyderabad team in the Final of the tournament. The Final match was held at Bombay from 22-24 February, 1938 and the Hyderabad team became successful to beat the Nawanagar team by a mere 1 wicket, in the breath-taking match, and thus became the champion.
(Last Updated on : 16-01-2009)
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