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Ranji Trophy Final: Karun Nair's triple takes it out of Tamil Nadu's reach

Karnataka batsman slams 310* as defending champions end Day Three on 618/7, a lead of 484

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Karnataka batsman Karun Nair en route to his triple ton against Tamil Nadu on Day Three of the Ranji Trophy final at the Wankhede on Tuesday
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At the end of second day's play on Monday, Karnataka's No. 6 batsman Karun Nair said his side has not yet sealed the Ranji title and that it would look to bat the whole of Tuesday.

True to his words, Karnataka batted the full 90 overs on Tuesday to virtually seal their eighth Ranji title, and second in successive seasons. And it was Nair himself who was reponsible for that, staying unbeaten on 310 (45x4, 1x6), to rewrite one Ranji record after another.

At stumps on Day 3 at the Wankhede, Nair dismissed to the pickets the Tamil Nadu bowling attack that looked hapless for the second straight day. He helped his side to 618/7 and a handsome lead of 484. From here, Tamil Nadu, under the sun for two full days and a bit, can only aim to avoid the embarrassment of an innings defeat if and when they manage to take out the remaining three Karnataka wickets. But with the pitch likely to assist spin on Days 4 and 5, it only looks difficult for TN.

After batting for 533 deliveries, or 88.5 overs, and being in the middle for 183.1 overs dating back to Sunday afternoon, Nair posted the highest score in a Ranji final in Independent India. The only other triple century in a Ranji title clash came from Gul Mohammad, whose 319 for Baroda against Holkar in Vadodara came in March 1947.

Nair also registered the highest by a Karnataka batsman in a Ranji final, putting to shade Gundappa Viswanath's 247 against Uttar Pradesh in Mohan Nagar in 1977-78.

The legendary Viswanath was quick to acknowledge Nair's feat, saying from Bangalore: "Karun's effort over the past two days is commendable. Scoring 300-plus in a Ranji Trophy final is amazing. The delightful batsman's concentration was spot on. I'm glad somebody has broken my record. Karun's temperament was brilliant and selection of shots commendable. It was batsmanship of the highest class."

On his part, Nair felt "special to be in the elite company of GRV sir".

"I have not interacted with him much but in the little occasions that I got to talk to him, he told me that whenever the opportunity arose, make it big, make it count," Nair said on Tuesday evening.
He did make it big. He did make it count.

Nair made the most of the perfect batting strip on which TN bowlers just went through the motions and hoped for Karnataka batsmen to err. They managed to take two wickets, that of KL Rahul and Shreyas Gopal but not before the match was out of their grasp.

Rahul and Nair shared 386 for the sixth wicket, the duo batting together for more than three sessions and nearly eight-and-a-half hours.

Rahul missed out on his double century when he stepped out to loft off-spinner Malolan Rangarajan into Vijay Shankar's hands at long on. But for this rush of blood, Rahul was brilliant with his strokeplay in his 188 (320b, 17x4, 3x6).

Tamil Nadu's only other joy came when Shreyas Gopal nicked speedster Ashwin Crist down the leg side to give Dinesh Karthik a simple catch.

But Nair held fort, seeing the ball like a football and striking them at will. He deployed the paddle sweep to good effect against Rangarajan and another off-break bowler Baba Aparajith while also cutting medium-pacers close to his body to third man for easy pickings.

His reverse sweep for four against Rangarajan fetched him the triple century. Not a bad effort for someone who, in his second first-class season, had only 381 runs in eight Ranji games before coming here.

For the record, Nair added 117 unbroken for the eighth wicket with his captain R Vinay Kumar (41*) and looks good for more.

Nair said his team would look to bat "for as long as possible until we get all out". That means Tamil Nadu are in for another tiring day in the field on Wednesday. And, Nair has at least two records in sight -- teammate Rahul's 337, the highest by a Karnataka batsman in Ranji, and BB Nimbalkar's 443*, the highest individual score in the premier domestic competition.

SCOREBOARD
Tamil Nadu (1st innings): 134
Karnataka (1st innings, o/n 323/5): KL Rahul c Shankar b Rangarajan 188, K Nair (batting) 310, S Gopal c Karthik b Crist 11, R Vinay Kumar (batting) 41
Extras (B5, LB3, NB1) 9
Total (for 7 wkts, 189 overs) 618
Fall of wickets: 5-84 (Mithun), 6-470 (Rahul), 7-501 (Shreyas)
Bowling: P Parameswaran 22-5-66-1 (NB1), L Balaji 34-5-95-3, A Crist 31-4-118-1, M Rangarajan 44-4-155-2, V Shankar 20-2-60-0, B Aparajith 25-3-82-0, B Indrajith 2-0-8-0, M Vijay 11-1-26-0

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