Aravind hat-trick routs Tamil Nadu for 82

Karnataka 290 (Gautam 94, Kapoor 87, Kaushik 4-53) and 351 for 5 dec (Agarwal 80, Binny 77*, Uthappa 76, Pandey 56*) beat Tamil Nadu 274 (Abhinav 84, Prasanna 59, Aravind 4-52) and 82 (Aravind 4-9, Vinay 3-20) by 285 runs
Scorecard

For the first two days, this was a pretty even game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. On day three and four, though, Karnataka showed the form that swept them to the Ranji title last season, to comprehensively defeat traditional rivals Tamil Nadu.

On the final morning, Stuart Binny showed off his hitting skills, launching boundary after boundary down the ground as Karnataka piled on 104 in less than 15 overs. That left Tamil Nadu a target of 368 in two-and-a-half sessions, with batting out a draw the realistic option.

In little over an hour, Tamil Nadu had lost their three best batsmen - Abhinav Mukund, Dinesh Karthik and B Aparajith. Left-arm quick S Aravind, who played this game only because Abhimanyu Mithun was unavailable, then hastened defeat with a hat-trick. Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 82, their lowest score in the Ranji Trophy since the 1972-73 final against an all-powerful Bombay side.

If the run-out of Tamil Nadu captain R Prasanna was crucial in deciding who got the first-innings lead, the run-out of Karthik was pivotal in the second innings. Though the team was looking for a draw, Karthik went for a risky second after inside-edging the ball towards deep square leg. A precise throw from Shreyas Gopal meant Karthik was caught short when the wicketkeeper CM Gautam broke the stumps.

Gopal had more cause for joy soon after. He presented Aparajith with a short ball, only for the batsman to swipe it straight to deep square leg. It is a shot Aparajith will rue, even more because there was only two minutes to lunch. Before that Aravind had produced a superb delivery to take Mukund's edge which was pouched by Manish Pandey at first slip on the second attempt.

In the second session, Binny set up Indrajith with a series of away-going deliveries, before getting one to duck in sharply and trap Indrajith on the crease. Tamil Nadu were 57 for 5, and their chances of surviving were quickly evaporating.

Even they wouldn't have expected it to end in such a hurry though, the entire innings lasting only 34.3 overs. In the 34th over, Aravind went wide of the crease bowling round the wicket and had Malolan Rangarajan holing out to mid-off. The next ball was angled in, and caught L Balaji lbw. The hat-trick delivery sneaked past M Mohammed's outside edge and flattened the off-stump. In the next over, Vinay Kumar completed a resounding victory that gave Karnataka their eighth win in nine Ranji matches.

Tamil Nadu coach WV Raman said after the match: "In a four-day game, it is not enough to be ahead in first two days, hope the boys have learnt that from this game."

Rameez Khan's unbeaten 78 and his eighth-wicket stand of 74 with Puneet Datey ensured Madhya Pradesh came away with a draw and a point from their match against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium. Seamers Anureet Singh and Krishnakant Upadhyay picked up seven wickets between them to go with their eight in the first innings, but they couldn't quite force a win for Railways.

Resuming their second innings on 212 for 5 - effectively 113 for 5 given their first-innings deficit - Madhya Pradesh batted out a further 52.2 overs to set Railways an unrealistic target of 212 in the 35 overs that remained. They lost three wickets in getting to 43 before the teams agreed on a draw at the start of the final hour.

Upadhyay dismissed Zafar Ali in the tenth over of the morning, and had Ankit Sharma lbw for a duck in his next over to leave Madhya Pradesh seven down. At that point, they were only 121 ahead with 78 overs left in the day. From there, Rameez and Datey frustrated Railways for 40 overs, before Anureet had Datey caught and bowled for a 95-ball 28. Rameez remained obdurate at the other end, and by the time Railways dismissed the last two batsmen, there was too little time left for them to make any attempt at a run-chase.

Rameez remained unconquered, having faced 236 balls and struck ten fours. Over the course of his two innings of 41 and 78*, he had spent a total of 364 balls and close to eight-and-a-half hours at the crease.