Karnataka has taken a firm grip of the Ranji Trophy final at the Wankhede Stadium. For the second day running and stretching over six sessions, the defending champion demonstrated an unyielding attitude and approach to crush the spirit of Tamil Nadu that was perhaps fighting a losing battle after being skittled out for a meagre 134 in the first innings.
Even after off-spinner Malolan Rangarajan managed to dislodge K.L. Rahul (188, 320b, 17x4, 3x6) from the middle after a near nine-hour tussle with the Test opener, Tamil Nadu went through the tedious process of bowling to a set and fiercely-determined Karun Nair who achieved the individual triple century (310 batting, 815m, 533b, 45x4, 1x6) to help Karnataka to 618 for seven. This has blunted the competitiveness of the title match.
Objective achieved
At the media interaction on Monday, Nair had hinted about Karnataka’s objective to keep Tamil Nadu on the field for another full day, and the quiet manner in which Rahul and Nair began the first session offered clear indications that it would not be beyond them.
The second new ball deployed in the post tea-session on Monday did not yield any dividend and Tamil Nadu seemed ready to buckle under the exacting work ahead. Rahul and Nair took their own time to cross the 150-run mark.
The teams went for lunch with the undefeated sixth-wicket pair taking Karnataka from its overnight 323 to 446. Tamil Nadu sent down 32 overs and conceded 123 runs during the session. To add to its woes, it lost the services of left-arm seamer Prasant Parameswaran soon after resumption to a leg injury he suffered while fielding in the deep. Luck though smiled on the fielding side when Rahul lifted Malolan to Vijay Shankar at long-on.
Belated success
Tamil Nadu tasted its first success in nearly eight and half hours and 111.5 overs during which time Rahul and Nair piled up 386 runs, a record for the sixth wicket in a national championship final. The previous record stood to the credit of Delhi’s Mohinder Amarnath and Surinder Khanna, who had made 256 against Karnataka in the 1978-79 summit clash at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
More significantly, the partnership mirrored a terrific commitment of the team that had won the Ranji Trophy last year after a long gap of 15 years and it was not going to let go a wonderful opportunity to retain it.
Leg-spinner all-rounder Shreyas Gopal struck two boundaries before falling an unlucky on-side deflection victim to seamer Crist. Thereafter skipper Vinay Kumar — all set to become the second Karnataka skipper after Erapalli Prasanna to win two Ranji Trophy titles — encouraged Nair to look for a triple century and stretch the first innings lead. There was no reward with the third new ball claimed after 170 overs; the eighth wicket pair has put on 117 runs.
The scores:
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 134.
Karnataka — 1st innings: Ravikumar Samarth c M. Vijay b Balaji 14, K.L. Rahul c Vijay Shankar b Malolan 188, Shishir Bhavane c Indrajith b Parameswaran 0, Robin Uthappa c Indrajith b Balaji 0, Manish Pandey c Aparajith b Balaji 6, Karun Nair (batting) 310, Abhimanyu Mithun lbw b Malolan 39, Shreyas Gopal c Karthik b Crist 11, R. Vinay Kumar 41; Extras (b-5, lb-3, nb-1) 9; Total (for seven wkts. in 189 overs): 618.
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-16, 3-16, 4-31, 5-84, 6-470, 7-501.
Tamil Nadu bowling: Prasanth Parameswaran 22-5-66-1, Laxmipathy Balaji 34-5-95-3, Aswin Crist 31-4-118-1, Malolan Rangarajan 44-4-155-2, Vijay Shankar 20-2-60-0, Aparajith 25-3-82-0, Indrajith 2-0-8-0, M. Vijay 11-1-26-0.
