Mumbai is one of three teams located in the state of Maharashtra, and has always competed as a separate team from the rest of the state. Despite this division, Mumbai has become India's most successful domestic team. It has played in 44 of the 67 Ranji finals through 2014 winning 40. Bombay won the first-ever Ranji Trophy competition in 1934–35 with Vijay Merchant starring in the final against Northern India. The title was retained the following season with a victory over Madras in the final. Bombay quickly showed themselves to be one of the strongest teams in the competition with 7 victories in the first 20 seasons of the Ranji Trophy. When playing Maharashtra in a semi-final of the 1948–49 season at Pune, Mumbai became the first and only team in first-class history to score over 600 runs in both innings of the same match – 651 and 714. However, it was after this period that their dominance was at its zenith. From 1955–56 to 1976–77, Bombay won 20 out of 22 titles including 15 in a row from 1958–59 to 1972–73. Bombay continued to regularly reach the Ranji Trophy final up to the mid-1980s. The later half of the 1980s was Bombay's least successful period with no final appearances in 5 consecutive seasons. However, they were able to regain some of their former glory from the 1990s onwards winning an additional 6 Ranji Trophies from 1993–94 to 2003–04 under the new name of Mumbai. In 2006–07, Mumbai won their 37th Ranji Trophy with victory over Bengal in the final at Wankhede Stadium. This win was particularly memorable as the team had recovered from the setbacks of losing their first three games, and being reduced to 0/5 in the semi-final against Baroda. Mumbai's dominance of the Ranji Trophy has led to many consecutive appearances in the Irani Trophy with much success including 15 wins. However, they have failed to beat the Rest of India team since 1998.
The team is known for its batting and spin bowling and has produced many of the Indian cricket team's top batsmen over the years. Players who have appeared in the national team include:
The Mumbai cricket Association or MCA is the governing body for cricket in Mumbai and its surrounding regions like Thane and Navi Mumbai. The association comes under west zone. The Association was established in 1930 and it has a Constitution. Sharad Pawar was re-elected as the president of Mumbai Cricket Association after defeating Vijay Patil by a margin of 27 votes at the biennial elections held in Mumbai. The Mumbai cricket team is the team for the Mumbai cricket association in the Ranji Trophy. The team has won over 41 titles, the most recent being in 2015–16. It has also come runner-up in the final of the Ranji Trophy a total of 5 times. The association owns the Wankhede Stadium, near Churchgate railway station built in 1975. The office of the association is located in the same building. To promote democratic values and to bring in new ideas and enthusiasm, the constitution provides that no individual can continue in any post for more than eight years consecutively. After completing 8 years in a position he/she can occupy the same post after a gap of 4 years. The Mumbai Cricket Association does not have a system of individual membership. Rather it has 350 ordinary members and 25 Associate members which are affiliated to the Association. Only ordinary members are eligible to vote during elections. If any ordinary member is found to be inactive in terms of cricket activity for more than 3 years the Club to which he/she belongs is demoted as an Associate member and if the club is still inactive for 3 years it automatically loses its membership.
