Courtesy: BCCI
Karnataka defeated Maharashtra by seven wickets in the final of the Ranji Trophy 2013-14 season, to win their seventh title on February 2, 2014, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. In a relatively one-sided final of the Ranji Trophy, Karnataka were the dominant force throughout the five days versus a hapless Maharashtra, thanks mainly to the likes of KL Rahul and captain Vinay Kumar performing exceptionally well with the bat and ball respectively. Ankit Bawne and Kedar Jadhav contributed with important runs to Maharashtra’s cause, but it was far from enough.
For the unversed, after captain of Maharashtra, Rohit Motwani, won the toss, he decided to bat first, and the team managed to score 305 runs in 104.1 overs in their first innings with fifties from Chirag Khurana, Ankit Bawne, and Sangram Atikar, while captain Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun, and Srinath Aravind took three wickets each. In response, Karnataka batted for 171.1 overs, to put up a massive score of 515 runs as KL Rahul top-scored with 131 runs in 273 balls in the opening, while Ganesh Satish got 117 runs in 212 balls and Robin Uthappa reached a fifty as well.
Captain Vinay Kumar took seven wickets in Ranji Trophy 2013-14 final for Karnataka
With a massive first innings lead of 210 runs, Karnataka had the upper hand over Maharashtra, but a good partnership of 118 runs for the third wicket between Ankit Bawne (61 off 115) and Kedar Jadhav (112 off 135) kept their team in the contest in the early stages of the second innings. But then, Vinay Kumar got himself amongst the wickets, taking four of them, while Shreyas Gopal chipped-in with four wickets of his own, to help bundle out Maharashtra for 366 runs in 91.2 overs, setting a target of just 157 runs for Karnataka to chase down.
In pursuit of the runs, with the title on the line, Karnataka cricket team never looked in any trouble with each of their five batters getting themselves into 20s and 30s. Manish Pandey and Karun Nair were at the crease when Karnataka got over the finishing line with seven wickets in hand, to win the coveted trophy for the seventh time in history. It was an unbeaten Ranji Trophy 2013-14 campaign for Karnataka, winning seven matches and drawing four matches throughout the season.
During the 2014-15 season of the Ranji Trophy, Karnataka were able to successfully defend their title under Vinay Kumar captaincy, defeating Tamil Nadu in the final.
