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Services defeated Assam by 8 wickets in a bizarre game to bag their second win in a row in the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 season. The two teams played out the shortest completed match in terms of balls bowled in the history of the tournament at the Tinsukia District Sports Association Ground in Kachujan, Assam, on Saturday.
It was nothing short of a bizarre contest as the match got wrapped up inside four sessions across two days, with only 90 overs being bowled over four innings. The match saw 32 wickets fall inside just 90 overs, including two hat-tricks, as the two teams managed to amass only 359 runs combined in the second round fixture at Tnsukia.
With only 540 balls being bowled across 4 innings, the game between Assam and Services became the shortest match in terms of balls bowled in Ranji history, surpassing the game between Delhi-Railways in the 1961-62 season, which was completed after 547 balls and saw a result. Only 221 runs were scored by the two teams in that game.
The Assam-Services match also entered the record books for being the shortest first-class match in 63 years. The match saw a staggering 25 wickets fall on Day 1, followed by seven more on Day 2 before Services wrapped up a comfortable victory.
A Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match between Karachi Blues and Faisalabad in the 2004-05 season holds the record for the shortest match in first-class history in terms of balls bowled. The match lasted for only 85 balls due to Karachi forfeiting the game. However, the shortest completed first-class match was played between Tasmania and Victoria in 1851, which lasted for 352 balls.
The shortest game by time in the Ranji Trophy was the inaugural match between Madras and Mysore in 1934. The match finished on the first day after 100.5 overs were bowled.
The match between Assam and Services saw history getting scripted on Day 1 after two different players bagged hat-tricks in the same innings for the first time in first-class history. Arjun Sharma bagged the first hat-trick of the season, before his Services teammate Mohit Jangra took another to bundle out Assam for a paltry 103.
Sharma finished with excellent figures of 5/46, while Jangra took 3/5 off his 4 overs. In reply, Services could only manage a slender 5-run lead as Riyan Parag's fifer helped Assam bowl out the visitors of 108 runs in their first innings. Both innings wrapped up before Tea on Day 1, allowing Assam to bat again.
However, wickets continued to tumble as the hosts lost five wickets in their second innings before stumps. Assam eventually folded for 75 runs in just 29.3 overs in their second innings, setting up a low-key 71-run target for Services. The visitors chased it down with 8 wickets to spare to bag their second win in a row in the Ranji Trophy 2025-26.
