Battle of the southerners

About a month ago, when Karnataka played their last Pool A game at the Wankhede Stadium, they rested their latest batting star, KL Rahul. Fresh from a maiden hundred in only his second Test appearance in Sydney in early January and who had only the previous week become the first Karnataka batsman to notch up a triple century in first-class cricket, Rahul had the chance to test himself at the Wankhede, where he had not played before.

But nursing a stiff back, he was confident that he would come back to the very venue a month later and make it a memorable occasion.

That time has come. Rahul is back at the Wankhede to make his maiden appearance at the historic venue that will see all the skills of the game put into use as the five-day Ranji Trophy final between holders Karnataka and two-time champions Tamil Nadu unfolds on Sunday.

Holders Karnataka have achieved their first mission of entering the final for the second straight year. Now, they would be keen on going one step further under the inspirational leadership of R Vinay Kumar. Only once before have the seven-time champions Karnataka successfully defended their title, in 1998-99 when they beat a Chandrakant Pandit-led Madhya Pradesh in the final in Bangalore.

But coming in Karnataka's way is a rejuvenated Tamil Nadu, who have lifted themselves up when the chips were down. Tamil Nadu, after five games this season, did not look like a team that would make it to the knock-out stages. But three consecutive wins against Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai and Baroda in their last three league games have brought them in serious contention for the title that has eluded them since 1987-88 when they won the last time. They are coached by former India batsman WV Raman, who was part of that victorious TN team 27 years ago.

Now on a roll, Tamil Nadu are best placed to hand Karnataka their first defeat since November 2012. Like they showed against Maharashtra in the semifinal, where their patience was tested from Day 1 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata last week, Tamil Nadu's grit is something that has to be admired.

Their batting, led by Test opener Murali Vijay, who has been having a dream run in international cricket in the last year following his successes in England and Australia, and with the likes of captain and experienced Abhinav Mukund, discarded international Dinesh Karthik and promising twins Baba Aparajith and Baba Indrajith can put to dust any attack. They also have 'horses-for-courses' bowlers, led by the vastly experienced Lakshmipathi Balaji while little-known speedsters Prasanth Parameswaran and Ashwin Crist have put up their hands when the chips were down, as also their slow bowlers of whom off-spinner Malolan Rangarajan has been their leading wicket-taker with 33 sticks.

Such has been Tamil Nadu's strength that they could afford to leave out left-arm spinner Rahil Shah and pick players according to the prevailing conditions. Shah missed TN's last three matches after taking 7/34 on a helpful pitch against Mumbai. And the medium-pacers Parameswaran and Crist made themselves counted.

Tamil Nadu may not have played at the Wankhede for quite some time -- their last game here was the 2012-13 semifinal against Mumbai that TN won on first innings to advance to the final -- while Karnataka played as recently as last month. 

Karnataka may be aware of the conditions better than their opponents. But Tamil Nadu will go out there with an open mind, not thinking too much about the end result but taking it session by session against the domestic powerhouses, Karnataka. The side that plays with a free mind and takes things as they come will come out on top as against a side that puts themselves under pressure to win the title. And, Tamil Nadu have the edge in that regard as they have nothing to lose even though Karnataka have a stronger bowling attack with their medium-pacers Vinay, Abhimanyu Mithun and Sreenath Aravind, and leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal picking up a bulk of the wickets for their side this season.

Teams (from): 
Tamil Nadu: Abhinav Mukund (C), Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik (VC/WK), Baba Aparajith, Vijay Shankar, Baba Indrajith, M Shahrukh Khan, Malolan Rangarajan, Rahil Shah, L Vignesh, Prasanth Parameswaran, R Prasanna, Lakshmipathi Balaji, Aushik Srinivas, U Sushil and A Ashwin Crist
Karnataka: R Vinay Kumar (C), KL Rahul, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Ravikumar Samarth, Karun Nair, Shishir Bhavane, Shreyas Gopal, Udit Patel, Abhimanyu Mithun, Sreenath Aravind, HS Sharath, J Suchith, Avinash KC, Abhishek Reddy and CM Gautam.
Umpires: Anil Chaudhary and C Shamsuddin.
TV Umpires: Nitin Menon
Match referee: Manu Nayyar
LIVE ON: Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2, 9.30am onwards

ROAD TO FINAL
KARNATAKA:
* beat Tamil Nadu by 285 runs
* beat Bengal by 9 wickets
* beat Railways by 136 runs
* beat Jammu & Kashmir by an innings and 30 runs
* drew vs Madhya Pradesh, took first innings lead
* drew with Baroda, conceded first innings lead
* drew with Uttar Pradesh, took first innings lead
* drew with Mumbai, conceded first innings lead
* (quarterfinal) drew with Assam, Karnataka won on first innings lead
* (semifinal) beat Mumbai by 112 runs

TAMIL NADU
* lost to Karnataka by 285 runs
* beat Jammu & Kashmir by 277 runs
* drew with Madhya Pradesh, conceded first innings lead
* drew with Railways, conceded first innings lead
* drew with Bengal, conceded first innings lead
* beat Uttar Pradesh by an innings and 49 runs
* beat Mumbai by an innings and 44 runs
* beat Baroda by 7 wickets
* (quarterfinal) drew with Vidarbha, TN won on first innings lead
* (semifinal) drew with Maharashtra, TN won on first innings lead

TITLES BEFORE:
KARNATAKA: 7 times (1973-74, 1977-78, 1982-83, 1995-96, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2013-14)
TAMIL NADU: 2 times (1954-54, 1987-88)