Maharashtra vs Karnataka, Final at Hyderabad, Jan 29 2014 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Time for the presentation:

Maharashtra captain Rohit Motwani: "Extremely proud of my side, they have been showing a lot character from game one, there are a lot of positives. They have been working hard as a unit. Catches win matches and that was important and we dropped a few but we overcame quite well on the second day with seven wickets. If we had taken those, we would have given a better fight. When we made it to quarter-finals, that's when we thought we can lift the Ranji Trophy. The hope started building up from there, even the Bengal game finished in three games. Only thing was we didn't bat well on day one and things didn't go our way. The batting - Jadhav, Khadiwale, Bawne and till No. 8 they all contributed, with the bowlers who took 35-40 wickets."

Man of the Match is KL Rahul: "I was hoping I would save my best for the end and that's what happened. I took it one game at a time and that helped my batting. I was getting the starts but was not covering them. All my team-mates supported and pushed me to do well. We wanted to enjoy the batting and the bowlers put a lot of pressure, so our plan was to attack the spinners. Always a dream to win Ranji Trophy."

Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar: "Ranji Trophy is bigger than individual achievements [300 wickets]. We all worked very hard for this, with the support staff and it's an amazing moment. We've been doing well for many years but we couldn't win in 2009-10 and then made the quarter-finals but couldn't go further. So we wanted to win it this time and it's a superb team effort. Most of the players are around 25-26 years and they all want to play for the country, they all aim big and are doing well. We had the ability to win and the belief and took it forward match by match as a positive unit. Lifting the Ranji Trophy is a great honour and I'd like to thank my team-mates for that."

Vinay Kumar lifts the Ranji Trophy and the players join him with ear-to-ear smiles to get their hands on it. They are all posing around the trophy as it is lifted in the air again and again. That's all we have for you for this tournament and thanks for joining in and for the feedback. This is Vishal signing off for the day, hope you all enjoyed our coverage starting with the blog and till today's commentary. Karthik's report will follow soon. Till then, goodbye!

3.30pm The Karnataka players run to the field to hug the batsmen and scream and form a huddle to celebrate their seventh Ranji Trophy title. The Karnataka players are ecstatic and there are handshakes all around with the Maharashtra players too, who fought very hard till the end

Karnataka last won the title in 1998-99. They reached the final in 2009-10 too but lost to Mumbai, as many will remember.

Robin Uthappa: "Amazing feeling and feels fantastic. We worked very hard for this and this success is phenomenal. I think we will party for three-four days now. All the players who contributed to this win gave joined us, Stuart has come from New Zealand also. We would like to thank KSCA for their support."

Manish Pandey: "We all enjoyed each other's success and it's a great feeling. The captain and coach told me during tea that I should be there till the end as I had not done it the last time."

Shreyas Gopal: "Most special feeling till now. Winning this is brilliant and it can't get better because it's my debut season."

Batting coach J Arunkumar: "Very well deserved for the team. It's a great feeling because I always dreamt of this trophy as a coach. Everyone wanted to win and we didn't think about losing this season at all."

Bowling coach Mansur Ali Khan: "All the players did well and our spinners also did well. I have been handling these bowlers since junior level so it has been quite easy [to guide them]."

Akshay Darekar from over the wicket

Only 16 more required now. Chirag Khurana is back

Vinay: "Uncharacteristic discipline from Pandey. Just knocking around singles. This can't last. Cue rush of blood in 1..2.."