Ranji Trophy Final: Karnataka close in on outright win vs Tamil Nadu

Mumbai Having already retained the title by virtue of their huge first innings lead defending champions Karnataka are now looking to post an outright win over TamilNadu after reducing them to 113 for three in their second essay on day four of Ranji Trophy cricket final here yesterdayKarnataka posted a massive total of 762 in their first innings after bundling out Tamil Nadu for a paltry 134 At stumps on the penultimate day Tamil Nadu werestruggling in their second innings still trailing the title holders by a huge 515 runs with seven wickets remaining Now even if the match ends in a draw which is one of the only two possible outcomes Karnataka would retained the Ranji Trophy title at the Wankhede stadium hereResuming at an overnight score of 618 for seven today Karnataka added 144 more runs to their total Batting since posttea on the opening day Karnatakapiled on runs as their innings lasted 1044 minutes The defending champions lost their triple centurion Karun Nair 328 in the first session today but skipper R VinayKumar 105 slammed his second Ranji century to guide the team to a mammoth 762Vinay Kumar who resumed on 41 batted patiently during his 319ball innings and struck 10 fours and three sixes Incidentally he became the first captain to score a ton in a Ranji final besides becoming only the second player after Vijay Hazare to hit a century and take five wickets in a Ranji Trophy final Nair who had been batting since the first day although made a brilliant 328 couldnt surpass his teammate K L Rahuls 337 to be the highest runscorer for KarnatakaNairs marathon 14andahalf hour knock came to an end 57 minutes into the day when he was trapped leg before by Vijay Shankar The 23yearold added 18 runs to his overnight score and became the highest scorer in a Ranji final going past Baroda batsman Gul Mohammads 319 against Holkar in 194647 His record came in the second ball off the fifth over when he flicked Laxmipathy Balajis delivery behind squareThe triple centurions 872minute stay at the crease yielded 46 fours and a six while sharing a 142run partnership with Vinay Kumar for the eighth wicket He became the third player to score a triple ton in a Ranji match at the Wankhede after Sanjay Manjrekars 377 against Hyderabad in 199091 and Sunil Gavaskars 340 againstBengal in 198182After the departure of Nair Vinay Kumar batted with Shreenath Aravind and added 83 runs for the ninth wicket Adding to Tamil Nadus misery Aravind compiled his first half century before being caught at backward short leg off Aswin Crist His 54ball knock was laced with nine fours With lunch being extended by half an hour Vinay Kumar batted patiently with last man H S Sharath to ensure that the holders finished the first session at 748 for nineHowever 14 minutes after the lunch it was all over for Karnataka when offie Malolan Rangarajan lured Sharath out of his crease with Baba Indrajith who had taken over the glove duty from Dinesh Karthik responded with a quick stumping Balaji and Rangarajan finished with three wickets each giving away 120 and 183 runs respectively Aswin Crist picked up two for 140 while Prasanth Parameswaran and Vijay Shankar bagged wicket apieceTamil Nadus second innings started on a disastrous note as they lost skipper Abhinav Mukund 13 with just 30 runs on board Vinay Kumar who is the second leading wicket taker this Ranji season so far trapped the other opener Murali Vijay leg before eight overs later reducing them to 47 for two With twins Aparajith and Indrajith at the crease Tamil Nadu needed them to see off the day but Indrajith threw his wicket away after hitting a couple of strokesHe smashed Shreyas Gopal for a six and followed it up with a four but departed the next ball after getting caught at the slips At the draw of stumps Aparajith and Vijay Shankar were batting at 36 and 15 respectivelyBrief scoresTamil Nadu 134 amp 113 for three in 40 overs Baba Aparajith batting 36 Shreyas Gopal 236 Karnataka 1st innings 762 all out in 2312 overs Karun Nair 328 K L Rahul 188 R Vinay Kumar 105 not out Laxmipathy Balaji 3120 Malolan Rangarajan 3183