1996–97 Ranji One Day Trophy

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. 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.

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. The teams played a total of 60 matches from 21 October to 27 December 1996. The zonal champions were Madhya Pradesh (Central), Assam (East), Delhi (North), Tamil Nadu (South), and Mumbai (West).