Tripura cricket team

The Tripura cricket team is a domestic cricket team representing the Indian state of Tripura.

Cricket developed later in Tripura than in most other parts of India. The first competitions were organized in the early 1960s, and the Tripura Cricket Association was formed in 1968.

Tripura entered the Ranji Trophy, along with Goa and Himachal Pradesh, when the competition was expanded for the 1985-86 season. They have always been one of the weaker sides in the competition. Up to the end of 2016, they had played 159 first-class matches resulting in eight wins, 102 losses and 49 draws. In List A cricket they had played 91 matches resulting in nine wins, 81 loses and one no-result.

Fielding a team with no previous first-class experience, Tripura lost all four matches in 1985-86, the first three by an innings. In 1986-87 they drew their first match and lost the next three, two of them by an innings. The pattern continued. In 2001-02, their last season playing only against their East Zone neighbours – Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa – Tripura lost two matches by an innings and drew the other two.

The Ranji Trophy was restructured for the 2002-03 season, and the lower-ranked teams from around India began to play each other. Tripura's fortunes improved only slightly at first. They registered two losses by an innings and three draws in 2002-03. In 2003-04 they drew all five matches, gaining a first-innings lead in two of them. In 2004-05 they lost three and drew two.

Tripura won their first first-class victory in the 2005-06 season. Until then they had played 87 matches for 65 losses and 22 draws. In their last match of the season, after two draws and two losses, they played Himachal Pradesh at Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium in Agartala, Tripura's main home ground. Their captain, Rajib Dutta, scored 32 and 71 not out in a low-scoring match in which no one else reached 50, and Tripura won by 130 runs. Vineet Jain, Tripura's opening bowler, took 2 for 20 and 7 for 29.

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