Karnataka have been like predators who go for the kill when they smell blood.

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On Thursday, the Karnataka cricketers, led by R Vinay Kumar, got a taste of winning the Ranji Trophy for the second successive time when they crushed Tamil Nadu by an innings and 217 runs shortly after tea on the fifth and final day at the Wankhede on Thursday.

This is the team's eighth overall win in Ranji Trophy, and follows their win over Maharashtra in Hyderabad last year.

Tamil Nadu, who made a paltry 134 in their first innings, were bowled out for 411 in their second essay after Karnataka posted a mammoth 762.

Nine of the 11 Karnataka players in action in the final, played in last year's title clash too, the only ones missing were Amit Verma and Ganesh Satish, who played for Kerala and Vidarbha, respectively.

Vinay joined legendary Erapalli Prasanna as only the second Karnataka captain to lift the Ranji Trophy twice but the first to do so in successive years. Vinay has led by example. He is emerging as a leader in the Karnataka team.

Karnataka players and their support staff deserved every moment of it as they have dominated not just against Tamil Nadu here but also against all the other teams right through the season with Vinay leading by example to finish with 48 wickets, the joint highest in 2014-15 with Mumbai's Shardul Thakur.

Tamil Nadu, though will be pleased having reached the final after the kind of start they had to the season, will be disappointed at going down outright rather than playing out a draw. Having resumed the final day at 113/3, needing another 515, making Karnataka bat again was ruled out. The only way out was to salvage some pride and earn a draw. After all, conceding the title on first innings lead looks better than a defeat by an innings.

Tamil Nadu appeared to be playing for a draw when overnight not out batsman Vijay Shankar built his innings patiently, notching up his second century of the season (103, 164b, 18x4). But Dinesh Karthik, who is vying for a Test spot, played in stark contrast harming his chances with his impatience. Though he scored at a brisk pace, racing to 120 in 112 balls (21x4, 1x6), he ought to have stayed till the end and ensured his team did not lose.

Karthik even turned a blind eye to coach WV Raman's efforts of catching his attention from the dressing room, indicating him to stay in the middle till the end. Karthik's urgency to rush back to the pavilion was seen not once but twice when he edged behind and immediately set off until the umpire called him back as S Aravind had overstepped the crease. But the second time, he lofted leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal inside-out to deep cover, it was only a matter of when Karnataka's victory would come. It did come 39 minutes after tea when Aravind forced Malolan Rangarajan, who was fighting it out, to edge to second slip Manish Pandey.

Vinay said: "This win is a result of many years of hard work. Last year, we worked as a group, growing up as a team with the same bunch. Knowing the taste of a Ranji Trophy win has motivated us to win one more. At the start of the season, we don't straight away look at lifting trophy but seek to win one game at a time."

His Tamil Nadu counterpart Abhinav Mukund said, "There is no shame in losing to a very good side. There are a lot of positives for us from the season, there is light of hope. We tried our best but we failed."SCOREBOARDTamil Nadu (1st innings): 134Karnataka (1st innings): 762Tamil Nadu (2nd innings, o/n 113/3): B Aparajith c Uthappa b Aravind 68, V Shankar c&b Vinay 103, D Karthik c Aravind b Gopal 120, R Prasanna c Pandey b Sharath 8, M Rangarajan c Pandey b Aravind 33, A Crist st Uthappa b Gopal 0, L Balaji not out 5, P Parameswaran did not bat.Extras (B3, LB6, W5, NB2) 16Total (all out, 107.5 overs) 411Fall of wickets: 3-79 (Indrajith), 4-191 (Aparajith), 5-306 (Shankar), 6-344 (Prasanna), 7-379 (Karthik), 8-379 (Crist), 9-411 (Rangarajan)Bowling: A Mukund 18-2-84-0, HS Sharath 20-4-77-1, S Aravind 21.5-6-52-2, S Gopal 25-4-126-4, R Vinay Kumar 21-8-43-2, R Samarth 2-0-20-0Team No. of winsMumbai 40Karnataka 8Delhi 7Baroda 5Madhya Pradesh 4Bengal 2Tamil Nadu 2Rajasthan 2