Karnataka scored a resounding victory — by an innings and 217 runs — over Tamil Nadu to retain the Ranji Trophy.
At the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind gave the finishing touches to a lop-sided match as Malolan Rangarajan nicked a low catch to Manish Pandey at slip.
Such a result was never in doubt after Karnataka had bowled out Tamil Nadu for 134 in the first innings.
K.L. Rahul, Karun Nair and R. Vinay Kumar showed their batting prowess and Karnataka made a statement that it was the best team in two years, undefeated in the last 28 matches.
Batting strip
A few Tamil Nadu players did stamp their authority on a lovely batting strip on the final day.
But the team did not show the stomach for a fight to deny the defending champion an outright victory.
B. Aparajith, Vijay Shankar and Dinesh Karthik hogged the limelight as they went about their business.
Aparajith, who has not been in good nick this season, applied himself as he batted with poise before a faint deflection off Aravind brought an end to an attractive knock.
Vijay Shankar (103, 164b, 18x4) and Karthik (120, 112b, 21x4, 1x6) displayed their scintillating stroke-play skills and added their names to the list of century-makers in the match.
However, not too many in the Tamil Nadu dressing room would have been pleased with the way Karthik gifted his wicket after playing such a knock.
The former India wicketkeeper was in total command for nearly three hours before he played an inside-out shot that went to Aravind at deep-cover. Karthik’s dismissal hastened the beleaguered side’s end.
After taking a mammoth 628-run lead, Karnataka took the field knowing that it was just a matter of time before it could clinch the trophy for the eighth time. The Karnataka bowlers came in for some rough treatment, especially promising leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal, forcing skipper Vinay to fall back on his seamers.
Vijay Shankar, who came into form mid-way through the season, would probably rue attempting a horizontal-bat shot to the sixth delivery ball of the second new ball.
Having conceded 60-odd runs in his first spell on Thursday, Shreyas returned to pick up the wickets of Karthik and Aswin Crist.
With the injured Prasanth Parameswaran unable to bat, the Tamil Nadu second innings ended when 43 balls remained for the mandatory overs to start.
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur gave away the trophy. KSCA will receive Rs. 2 crore, while TNCA will get Rs. 1 crore.
Brief scores
Tamil Nadu: 134 and 411/9 (Dinesh Karthik 120, Vijay Shankar 103, Aparajith 68; Shreyas Gopal 4-126, Vinay Kumar 2-43, Sreentah Aravind 2-52)
Karnataka: (1st innings) 762 all out (Karun Nair 328, Lokesh Rahul 188, Vinay Kumar 105 not out; Laxmipathy Balaji 3-120, Malolan Rangarajan 3-183).
