Railways Bring Ranji Cricket Back To Historic Brabourne

After a gap of 45 months, a Ranji Trophy match returned to the historic Brabourne Stadium. Railways—which has probably given more women cricketers to the national team—has chosen the famous venue on Dinshaw Vachha Road, Churchgate, to play three of its ‘home’ matches of the 2026-2027 Ranji Trophy Elite League at the Cricket Club of India ground, which last played host to the prestigious tournament between Maharashtra and Mumbai in January 2023. The Brabourne has hosted 94 Ranji Trophy matches, and Bombay has won the final at the venue seven times from 1941-42 to 1963-64, defeating Mysore, Baroda, Holkar, Bengal and Rajasthan. The Brabourne was Bombay’s home ground until the early 1970s, when the Bombay (Mumbai) Cricket Association built its own ground at “D” Road, Churchgate, and began playing matches there. The Railways will play two more matches at the Brabourne against the 42-time winner Mumbai in November and Haryana in January 2027. The Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi is the home ground of the Railways, which owns many grounds in India, but it opted to give its team the joy and experience of playing the multi-day match at a venue which has played host to 18 Test matches. The Brabourne has hosted IPL and WPL matches, as well as many other BCCI tournaments. It also hosted the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, which Australia won. The late Rajsingh Dungarpur and the Club’s President for many years believed that the CCI was always meant for cricket and its development, and no one should forget this. Past Australian teams loved to practice at the venue; it was here that the Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai team thrashed Shane Warne and Australia in a warm-up game before the 2001 home series. The Brabourne has its own class!