| Dates | 21 October – 27 December 1996 | 
|---|---|
| Administrator(s) | BCCI | 
| Cricket format | List A | 
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin | 
| Participants | 27 | 
| Matches | 60 | 
The 1996–97 Ranji One Day Trophy was the fourth edition of India's annual List A cricket tournament which became the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2007.[1][2] As in the earlier editions, the 1996–97 tournament was open to teams participating in the Ranji Trophy and it was organised on a zonal basis without national playoffs or a final, so the aim of each team was to win its zonal championship only.[3]
Tournament
All 27 teams from the Ranji Trophy competed and were divided into the five zones used for the Duleep Trophy: Central (5 teams), East (5), North (6), South (6), and West (5). The format within each zone was round-robin with the teams playing all of their zonal opponents once. Four points were awarded for a win and run rate was utilised as a tie-breaker within each league.[3] The teams played a total of 60 matches from 21 October to 27 December 1996.[1] The zonal champions were Madhya Pradesh (Central), Assam (East), Delhi (North), Tamil Nadu (South), and Mumbai (West).[3]
Central Zone
|  21 October 1996     Scorecard | 
| Railways 202/6 (50 overs) | v | Madhya Pradesh 204/6 (49.1 overs) | 
| SZ Zuffri 31  Rajesh Chauhan 3/21 (10 overs) | 
- Madhya Pradesh won the toss and elected to field.
- Points : Madhya Pradesh 4; Railways 0
|  21 October 1996     Scorecard | 
| Railways 248/7 (50 overs) | v | Uttar Pradesh 21/0 (5 overs) | 
| Rizwan Shamshad 60  PK Hedaoo 3/42 (10 overs) | SK Rao 16  | 
- Uttar Pradesh won the toss and elected to bat.
- Rain prevented the completion of the second innings.
References
- 1 2 Ranji Trophy One Day 1996/97. CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 December 2023. (subscription required)
- ↑ Tournaments in India. CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 December 2023. (subscription required)
- 1 2 3 Ranji Trophy One Day Tables, 1996/97. CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 December 2023. (subscription required)