Karnataka retain title with innings win

Vijay Shankar and Dinesh Karthik scored centuries but Tamil Nadu's middle-order batsmen could not avoid the ignominy of suffering an innings defeat in the Ranji Trophy final against Karnataka in Mumbai. Karnataka, on the other hand, were thrilled to have defended their title with a massive win by an innings and 217 runs.

The last day started with Karnataka needing seven wickets, possibly six with Prasanth Parameswaran unlikely to bat after hurting his leg in the field. It took Karnataka well over an hour to strike when B Aparajith's impressive knock ended with an edge down the leg side which was brilliantly pouched by a diving Robin Uthappa.

The next 100 minutes on either side of the lunch break saw the only phase of the game in which Tamil Nadu were on top. Vijay was joined by Karthik and the duo put on an authoritative display of batting. While Vijay went after the pace of Vinay Kumar and S Aravind, Karthik targeted Shreyas Gopal, hitting the legspinner for five boundaries in an over.

Soon after lunch, Vijay also joined in the party, first flicking Gopal on the on side and following it up with a late cut that helped him enter the nineties. Having succumbed in the nineties twice this season, Vijay adopted a cautious approach then on. While Karthik continued to deal in boundaries, Vijay focussed on singles. A loose ball from R Samarth's part-time medium-pace was despatched to the point boundary to fetch Vijay a deserving century.

Two overs hence, the ever-reliable Vinay broke the stand in the first over with the second new ball. Vinay's short ball rose too much on Vijay whose attempted pull only resulted in the ball lobbing towards short mid-on for a return catch.

Karthik continued his boundary spree and reached a stylish hundred, his third in Ranji finals, in no time. Such was the audacity of Karthik's strokeplay that 82 of his 100 had come in boundaries. Soon after raising his bat, however, Karthik had a lapse in concentration. He edged Aravind straight to Uthappa behind the stumps and only realised after turning back to the pavilion that the bowler had overstepped.

The mistake didn't cost Karnataka much, however, as Karthik holed out to deep cover off Gopal in the second over after tea. With R Prasanna having already edged Sharath to Manish Pandey before the break, the Tamil Nadu tail had too much on their platter.

The formality was completed soon afterwards, with Malolan Rangarajan edging Aravind to Pandey in the slips to kickstart prolonged celebrations. By winning their eighth Ranji Trophy title, Karnataka went past Delhi to become the second-most successful side in the competition behind Mumbai, who have won it 40 times.

Ranjitsinhji we love you too much to let u go!! Title no.5 for @RanjiKarnataka #WeDidntGiveItBack #Champions pic.twitter.com/S4aRZFfUmr

— K L Rahul (@klrahul11) March 12, 2015