Stats: Karnataka's Karun Nair breaks record for highest score in Ranji Trophy finals

Karun Nair’s 328 has given Karnataka complete control in the Ranji Trophy final

Karnataka batsman Karun Nair broke the record for the highest score in a Ranji Trophy final on Day 4 of the ongoing final against Tamil Nadu at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Resuming the day on the overnight score of 310*, Nair surpassed Gul Mohammad’s 319 for Baroda against Holkar in the 1946-47 season in next-to-no time to etch his name in the record books.

Nair was eventually dismissed for 328, missing out on teammate KL Rahul’s record for the highest score by a Karnataka player in Ranji Trophy history. Rahul, who made his Test debut for India against Australia during the Boxing Day Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last year, had scored 337 against Uttar Pradesh at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore earlier this season.

As far as the match situation is concerned, Karnataka are in complete control and the result should be nothing but a mere formality. They bundled Tamil Nadu out for 134 in the 1st innings after winning the toss and choosing to bowl and are sitting on 677/8 (at the time of writing this article) in their 1st innings with a lead of 543 runs. At one stage, though, it didn’t seem all that comfortable with them staring down the barrel at 31/4 and then 84/5, but a 386-run partnership between Nair and Rahul (188) for the 6th wicket enabled a strong recovery and eventually put them in the driver’s seat.

Earlier, the Tamil Nadu batsmen had no answer to Karnataka’s bowlers on a helpful pitch as Vinay Kumar carried on his good form from the semi-finals against Mumbai and finished up with figures of 5/34 from his 15.4 overs with 6 maidens.

Top 5 scores in the history of Ranji Trophy finals

Rank	Player	Score	Team	Opposition	Season
1	Karun Nair	328	Karnataka	Tamil Nadu	2014/15
2	Gul Mohammad	319	Baroda	Holkar	1946/47
3	Vijay Hazare	288	Baroda	Holkar	1946/47
4	Vijay Merchant	278	Bombay	Holkar	1944/45
5	Ashok Mankad	265	Bombay	Delhi	1980/81

*Stats updated till 11 March, 2015