Seven years ago, on 12 March, Karnataka successfully defended their Ranji Trophy title in emphatic style, by defeating Tamil Nadu by an innings and massive 217 runs, in the final match held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
With this staggering victory against Tamil Nadu, Karnataka won their second consecutive Ranji trophy title, which was also their eighth overall Ranji title.
Karnataka won the toss in the five-day match and elected to field first.
Karnataka’s formidable bowling unit restricted Tamil Nadu to a paltry total of 134 in 62.4 overs. Captain Abhinav Mukund top-scored with 35 and Baba Indrajith added 27. Five batters of Tamil Nadu were dismissed in single-figure scores as Karnataka skipper Vinay Kumar picked 5 wickets and bowler Abhimanyu Mithun took 3 wickets in the first innings.
While Karnataka displayed some top-notch bowling, the team sparkled in its batting performance as well. In their first innings, Karnataka put on a mammoth total of 762 runs as right-handed batter Karun Nair scored 328 alone. KL Rahul also hit a stunning century with 188 runs, while captain Vinay Kumar remained unbeaten at 105.
On the bowling side, Malolan Rangarajan and Lakshmipathy Balaji picked 3 wickets each while Aswin Crist took 2 wickets.
After Karnataka’s 628-run lead, Tamil Nadu battled their best in the second innings but were inevitably bowled out for 411 runs.
Baba Aparajith and Vijay Shankar put up a brave fight with 68 and 103 respectively, before Baba Aparajith departed with the scoreboard reading 191/4. Vijay Shankar was then joined by wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, who put up a great performance to sail a sinking ship.
Dinesh Karthik and Vijay Shankar notched up a 115-run partnership for the fifth wicket, before Karnataka skipper Vinay Kumar broke the partnership and dismissed Shankar at 103.
Dinesh Karthik continued his merry-ways and reached a stylish hundred. The cricketer’s stroke play was so brilliant that 90 runs of his 100 had came in boundaries. However, in the 96th over, Shreyas Gopal dismissed Dinesh Karthik at 120, reducing Tamil Nadu for 379/7.
With Tamil Nadu losing 7 wickets, the match now seemed to be a one-sided contest.
Aswin Crist was the next to bat but was dismissed by Shreyas Gopal even before making a single run. Malolan Rangarajan and Lakshmipathy Balaji were the only batters left to play for Tamil Nadu as Prasanth Parameswaran was injured and would not bat.
Lakshmipathy Balaji remained not out on five and Malolan Rangarajan added a valuable 33 to the scoreboard, but was dismissed by Sreenath Aravind in the 108th over.
Karnataka won the Ranji Trophy for a consecutive second time by an innings and a mammoth 217 runs. With this victory, Karnataka became the second most successful team to play in the Ranji tournament after Mumbai, who had lifted the trophy 40 times till 2015.
Karun Nair was declared the Player of the Match for his marvellous triple century.
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