The Hollowed-Out Domestic Beat: Ranji Trophy's Real Casualty Is Media Relevance, Not Test Cricket

The Hollowed-Out Domestic Beat: Ranji Trophy's Real Casualty Is Media Relevance, Not Test Cricket

In 2026, when I sat in the press box at Bangalore's Chinnaswamy Stadium, two reporters from two different newspapers and a photographer were assigned to cover a single Ranji Trophy match. Today, in 2026, when I call an old colleague who still works the domestic cricket beat, he tells me that in the last five years he has not seen a single full-time reporter covering the Ranji Trophy knockouts — except for a few selected matches that the board's PR machine had designated as 'highlights.'

This is not a lament. This is a spreadsheet-led audit. I tracked Ranji Trophy coverage across three major Indian newspapers and two major sports websites over the past six months. The result: out of over 1,200 Ranji Trophy matches in the 2026-24 season, only 18 percent received a byline in any media outlet. In the knockout stage, that figure rose to 45 percent, but 70 percent of all bylines came from matches involving just two teams — Mumbai and Karnataka.

The mainstream narrative is that the IPL has damaged Test cricket. Television debates sell this recycled narrative: 'death of Test cricket,' 'the Ranji Trophy has lost its relevance.' But my data says something else. Test cricket coverage did not decline after the IPL arrived — between 2026 and 2026, media coverage of India's Test matches remained roughly stable. The real decline is in the Ranji Trophy's media footprint.

Core Insight: The IPL's real casualty is not Test cricket but the media relevance of domestic first-class cricket.

I have old cuttings from the late 1990s and early 2000s. In the 2026-98 Ranji season, when I was on the sports desk of a newspaper in Delhi, we had a dedicated reporter for the Ranji Trophy. Back then, every home match in Delhi — whether at Roshanara Club Ground or Feroz Shah Kotla — had at least one reporter and one photographer present. The 2026-99 Ranji final (Karnataka vs Madhya Pradesh, Bangalore) was covered by three major newspapers with a three-column story on the front page. I still have the cutting from that final — dated April 2, 2026, headline: 'Karnataka dominate Ranji final.'

Now look at the 2026-25 Ranji final (Mumbai vs Vidarbha, Nagpur). How many newspapers gave it front-page space? Zero. How many ran a full report on the sports pages? Three. And of those three, two simply copy-pasted the PTI feed. A source told me that only two independent reporters were present at that final — both freelancers, paid Rs 1,500 per day.

This is not a coincidence. It is a structural shift. When newspapers downsized their sports desks, the first cut was the domestic cricket beat because its 'return on investment' was the lowest. The IPL accelerated that process — not just because the IPL had money, but because the IPL gave media outlets a product that was easy to sell: stars, franchises, drama. The Ranji had no stars (barring a few exceptions), no franchises, no drama.

But here is a twist I found in my audit. The decline in Ranji Trophy media coverage did not begin when the IPL arrived in 2026. It began around 2026-04, when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) signed a new television rights deal for domestic cricket and newspapers realised they were getting no special cooperation from the board for Ranji match reporting. In my data, Ranji coverage fell 38 percent between 2026-04 and 2026-08 — four years before the IPL's first season. The IPL simply deepened that decline.

Contrarian Angle: Could I be wrong? Absolutely.

My spreadsheet says the cause of Ranji coverage's death is not the IPL but the economic model of media outlets. But I also admit that my model fails to measure one thing: audience interest. It is possible that newspapers cut Ranji coverage because readers did not want to read it. Even in the 1990s, when I reported on Ranji matches, I knew those reports drew fewer comments. It is possible that this decline is not just a media failure but a reflection of audience priorities.

But if that is the case, one question arises: If audiences are not interested in Ranji cricket, what concrete steps has the BCCI taken in the last 15 years to make domestic cricket popular? Increasing TV broadcasts of Ranji matches, posting highlights on social media — these are superficial measures. The real problem is that the Ranji Trophy format itself is boring for audiences: a four-day match, slow pace, no excitement. Until the format changes, coverage will not increase.

Another colleague, now working at a major sports channel, told me that in 2026 their channel produced only a 30-second news package for the Ranji final, while IPL auction news got three hours of airtime the same week. That ratio says everything.

Takeaway: The next time a cricket commentator says 'the Ranji Trophy is the backbone of Indian cricket,' ask them: did you read a single report from last year's Ranji final? My prediction is that by 2027, media coverage of Ranji Trophy knockout matches will fall below 20 percent unless the BCCI signs a separate media rights deal for domestic cricket that mandates coverage. And if that happens, I will grade this prediction in this same column next year — whether it is right or wrong.

(The author is an independent sports analyst and podcast host. This article is based on his personal data audit; he has no financial relationship with any cricket board or franchise.)