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With the participation from a number of 15 teams, though the Ranji Trophy, 1948-49 was not that much a huge crowd puller, but it was definitely a successful one. There were a number of teams that did not come to play in this edition of the tournament and the teams like Assam, appeared in the tournament after a few years' gap. The teams that took part in the tournament include the likes of Assam, Baroda, Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, CP & Berar, Delhi & Districts, Gujarat, Holkar, Hyderabad, Kathiawar, Madras, Maharashtra, Mysore and the United Provinces. The first match of the tournament was held at Bangalore from 12-15 November 1948, between the teams of Mysore and Maharashtra. The Maharashtra team got a good start in the tournament by winning the match by 176 runs.
The Hyderabad and Baroda teams met with each other for the second match of the Ranji Trophy, 1948-49 at Secunderabad from 16-18 November 1948. The match saw the Baroda team winning by a good margin of 8 wickets. The next match involved the teams like Holkar and CP & Berar and the two teams played the match at Indore from 03-06 December 1948. Though the match was drawn, the match officials declared the Holkar team as the winner, as it was having a lead in the first innings. After the Holkar-CP & Berar match, the teams of Maharashtra and Kathiawar clashed with each other at Poona from 16-18 December 1948. The Maharashtra won the match that was gave up by the Kathiawar team. The next match saw the two teams of Gujarat and Baroda playing against each other at Ahmedabad from 17-20 December, 1948, where the Baroda team won by 172 runs.
The Assam team was playing in the tournament after a long period and the team appeared in the next match of the Ranji Trophy, 1948-49 against the United Provinces team at Shillong from 17-19 December, 1948. Though the team tried their best, they could not do well in the match and the United Provinces team won the match by a huge margin of an innings and 97 runs. The next match saw the teams of Bengal and Bombay combating with each other at Calcutta from 21-24 January, 1949. The Bombay team won the drawn match because of having a lead in the first innings. The match between the teams of Bihar and Delhi was held at Jamshedpur from 21-23 January, 1949, where the Bihar team made some sort of upset by beating the powerful Delhi team by 29 runs. The Bombay and Madras teams then met each other at Madras from 12-15 February, 1949 and the Bombay team played extremely well to get a huge win of 10 wickets in the match.
The match between the teams of Bihar and Holkar started on 12th February, 1949 and ended on 14th February, 1949 at Jamshedpur and the match saw the Holkar team winning by an innings and 12 runs. The last match of the group level of the Ranji Trophy, 1948-49 was held between the teams of United Provinces and Maharashtra at Kanpur from 12-14 February, 1949 and the Maharashtra team got a huge win of an innings and 174 runs, to enter the Semi-Final of the tournament. In the first Semi-Final, the Maharashtra team clashed with the Bombay team at Poona from 05-09 March, 1949 and the match was won by the Bombay team with a huge margin of 354 runs. The Holkar and Baroda teams met each other in the second Semi-Final of the Ranji Trophy, 1948-49 at Indore from 07-10 March, 1949. The Baroda team won the match quite convincingly by 9 wickets to set up the Final clash with the Bombay team. The Final saw the teams of Bombay and Baroda locking their horns together at Bombay from 18-22 March, 1949. However, the Final match was not that much an exciting one, as the Bombay team played extremely well to beat the Baroda team by a huge margin of 468 runs to become the champions.
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