The 11th edition of the Ranji Trophy was organised in the year 1944-45 and like the previous ones, this edition was also quite a successful one. A number of 17 teams took part in the Ranji Trophy, 1944-45 and the teams included the likes of Baroda, Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Delhi, Gujarat, Holkar, Hyderabad, Madras, Maharashtra, Mysore, Northern India, Nawanagar, Southern Punjab, United Province, Sind and Western India. All the teams played well in the tournament and it helped a lot in attracting the attentions of the cricket enthusiasts, further. The tournament started with the match between the teams of Sind and Bombay and the match was held at Karachi from 03-05 November 1944. The Bombay started the tournament well by winning the drawn match for having a lead in the first innings.
The teams of Bengal and United Provinces met at Calcutta , 09-12 December 1944 and the match was won by the Bengal team by a margin of 75 runs. The match between Maharashtra and Nawanagar was held at Poona from 09-11 December 1944 and the match saw the Maharashtra team winning by a huge margin of 489 runs. The Northern India and Delhi teams met with each other in a match of the Ranji Trophy, 1944-45 at Lahore from 09-11 December, 1944. The Northern India team got a huge win of an innings and 220 runs in this match against the Delhi team. From 15-16 December, 1944, the teams of Bihar and Holkar played against each other at Jamshedpur and the Holkar team won the match with a large margin of an innings and 140 runs.
The next match of the Ranji Trophy, 1944-45 saw a clash between the teams Gujarat and Western India at Ahmedabad from 15-18 December, 1944. The Western India side showed a wonderful performance in the match and won it comprehensively by 200 runs. The clash of Maharashtra and Baroda teams was held at Poona from 16-18 December, 1944 where the Baroda team won by a huge margin of 354 runs. The Madras team then played against the Hyderabad team in the next match of the tournament at Madras from 24-27 December, 1944 and this match was won by the Madras team with a margin of 53 runs. After the Madras-Hyderabad match, the cricket enthusiasts saw the clash between the teams of Bombay and Western India. The match was held at Bombay from 30 December, 1944 - 01 January, 1945 and the Bombay team got yet another comprehensive win of an innings and 312 runs, in this match.
In another group match of the Ranji Trophy, 1944-45, the teams of Bengal and Holkar clashed with each other at Indore from 18-20 January, 1945. The Holkar team became the winner of the match with a margin of an innings and 298 runs and got into an advantageous position in the point table. The next match was played between Madras and Mysore at Madras from 20-22 January, 1945 and the match saw the Madras team winning by a margin of an innings and 126 runs. The match between the Northern India and Southern Punjab sides was dominated by the Northern India team and the team won the match by 362 runs. This match was held at Lahore from 26-28 January, 1945. The last match of the group level of the Ranji Trophy, 1944-45 saw a battle between the teams of Baroda and Bombay at Baroda from 27-29 January, 1945. A win of 7 wickets in this match helped the Bombay team ton get into the Semi-Final of the tournament.
The first Semi-Final match of the tournament was played between the teams of Bombay and Northern India at Bombay from 16-19 February, 1945. The Bombay team played extremely well in the match and clinched a huge victory of 10 wickets to storm into the Final. The Madras and Holkar teams met each other in the second Semi-Final of the Ranji Trophy, 1944-45 at Madras form 17-19 February, 1945. Playing well in the match, the Holkar team crashed their opponents by 10 wickets for setting a clash with the Bombay team in the Final of the tournament. The Final match was not that much a competitive one as expected and as the Bombay team played extraordinarily, they became the winner of the tournament. The Final match was held at Bombay from 04-08 March, 1945 and the Bombay team won the match by a huge margin of 374 runs to clinch the Ranji Trophy, 1944-45.
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