In the initial part of the last decade, Karnataka dominated first-class cricket. On this day in 2015, they won their second consecutive Ranji Trophy title after thrashing the southern rivals Tamil Nadu. It was a dominating display from Karnataka throughout the season and they finished the campaign in the same way.
First Innings
The seasoned campaigner, Vinay Kumar, won the toss for Karnataka and elected to bowl first in the all-important final. The captain himself took the responsibility to prove his decision right. He dismissed Murali Vijay and Baba Aparajith in the first 10 overs to set the tone for Karnataka in the contest. Everything went south from here for the team from the South. Karnataka kept taking wickets at regular intervals and the formidable Tamil Nadu batting lineup collapsed dramatically. The side batting first could only score 134 runs in the first innings.
The batting performance from Karnataka was the polar opposite of their rivals. In reply to Tamil Nadu’s 134, Karnataka posted a massive 762 runs in their batting stint. This absolute domination from Karnataka made the final a no-match. However, it was not all rosy for Karnataka from the start. At one point, Karnataka were tottering for 5-84 with the half of the side back in the pavilion even before adding 100 runs on the board. But after that, it was a completely different match. Opener KL Rahul and the youngster in the middle order, Karun Nair, stitched a match-winning 386-run partnership. Rahul ended up with 188 runs whereas Nair had scored 328 runs in the first innings. Captain Vinay Kumar also scored a century to extend Karnataka’s lead.
Second Innings
By the time the second innings started, Karnataka already had one hand on the trophy. However, Tamil Nadu showed resilience with a much-improved batting performance in the second innings. Senior players like Dinesh Karthik stepped up alongside Vijay Shankar to at least make a match out of this contest. Karthik scored 120 runs whereas Vijay Shankar contributed 103 runs. But this effort was not enough to neutralize the huge advantage they conceded in the first innings. In the end, Tamil Nadu were restricted to 411 runs, much before the breakeven point as they lost the match by an innings and 217 runs. This authoritative victory gave Karnataka their 8th Ranji Trophy title.