After facing 231 overs and two deliveries, Karnataka finished its long-drawn first innings at 762 runs, 22 short of the highest by Baroda in the 1946-47 final against Holkar and a whopping 628 runs ahead of Tamil Nadu’s first innings total of 134.
Having led Karnataka to its seventh win last year after a gap of 15 years, skipper R. Vinay Kumar has positioned himself to become the second captain from the State — the first being E.A.S. Prasanna — to win the Ranji Trophy twice, after picking up three wickets in the Tamil Nadu second innings on Wednesday.
The feisty captain followed up his five-wicket haul with an unbeaten century (105 n.o., 376m, 319b, 10x4, 3x6) that came just minutes after the extended lunch session.
Splendid effort
A pull shot off seamer Vijay Shankar took him past his second century in 99 first-class matches. It was Karnataka’s third splendid batting effort after K.L. Rahul’s 188 and Karun Nair’s highest ever score of 328 (560b, 46x4, 1x6) in a Ranji final.
It has been a dream run for Karnataka in the tournament that began with an emphatic victory over Tamil Nadu in Bengaluru. Driven by a team eager to retain the title, Karnataka pulled itself out of the hole it was in at the end of the opening day. Quite a few records that stood for nearly seven decades have fallen by the wayside.
With its fate virtually sealed in the match, Tamil Nadu sprang a surprise on the fourth morning with a line of attack directed from round the wicket and positioning a ring of fielders near the batsmen and in the deep.
L. Balaji, Aswin Crist and Vijay Shankar pitched the ball short aiming at the rib-cage; the third new ball was 20 overs old, yet it triggered a terrific duel in the middle.
For two days Abhinav Mukund’s team appeared listless and did not give the impression of going for wickets. Karun was struck on his bottom hand trying to hook Crist and resumed after being treated by the physio. It was an engaging tussle as long as it lasted.
Things returned to normal when off-spinner Malolan Rangarajan came on to bring an end to the Karnataka innings having tailender H.S. Sharath stumped by B. Indrajith.
Aravind chips in
Karnataka added 146 to its overnight 618, with Sreenath Aravind helping himself to a half-century and putting on 83 for the ninth wicket.
Earlier Karun, after a marathon fourteen and a half hours of batting, fell leg-before to Vijay Shankar. His partnership with the captain produced 142 runs. The wicket may have played a big part in Tamil Nadu’s misfortune, but while its finger-spinner Malolan did not get much purchase from the wicket, Karnataka’s wrist-spinner Shreyas was excited with bounce and turn from the pitch. He has already accounted for Abhinav and Indrajith and could pick up a few more on the final day.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 134.
Karnataka — 1st innings: Ravikumar Samarth c Vijay b Balaji 14, K.L. Rahul c Vijay Shankar b Malolan 188, Shishir Bhavane c Indrajith b Prasanth 0, Robin Uthappa c Indrajith b Balaji 0, Manish Pandey c Aparajith b Balaji 6, Karun Nair lbw b Vijay Shankar 328, Abhimanyu Mithun lbw b Malolan 39, Shreyas Gopal c Karthik b Crist 11, R. Vinay Kumar (not out) 105, Sreeenath Aravind c (sub) b Crist 50, H.S. Sharath st. Indrajit b Malolan 8; Extras (lb-9, lb-3, nb-1): 13; Total (in 231.2 overs): 762.
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-16, 3-16, 4-31, 5-84, 6-470, 7-501, 8-643, 9-726.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Prasanth Parameswaran 22-5-66-1, L. Balaji 42-5-120-3, Aswin Crist 37-5-140-2, Malolan Rangarajan 53.2-5-183-3, Vijay Shankar 29-4-92-1, B. Aparajith 26-3-83-0, B. Indrajith 8-1-26-0, M. Vijay 14-1-40-0.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: Abhinav Mukund b Shreyas 13, M. Vijay lbw b Vinay 27, B. Aparajith (batting) 36, B. Indrajith c Vinay b Shreyas 18, Vijay Shankar (batting) 15; Extras (lb-4): 4; Total (for three wkts. in 40 overs): 113.
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-47, 3-79.
Karnataka bowling: Abhimanyu Mithun 9-2-24-0, H.S. Sharath 8-3-20-0, Sreenath Aravind 7-1-12-0, Shreyas Gopal 9-2-36-2, Vinay Kumar 7-1-17-1.
