Highest Individual Score in a Ranji Trophy Final

Karun Nair's 328 for Karnataka against Tamil Nadu in 2014–15 is the highest individual score in a Ranji Trophy final. He surpassed Gul Mohammad's 319 for Baroda against Holkar, a record that had stood since 1946–47.

Nair's innings helped Karnataka turn an uncertain start into an overwhelming position at the Wankhede Stadium.

The Final's Main Numbers

The final scorecard shows that the triple hundred was part of a much larger team performance.

From Early Trouble to a Winning Total

Karnataka were 45 for four at the end of the first day. Nair and Rahul then rebuilt the innings, taking it beyond recovery and into a position of control.

That starting point matters. A triple century made after early wickets has a different shape from one compiled by joining an already dominant innings. Nair first had to help stabilise the match before expanding his score.

A Record That Came in a Title Defence

Karnataka were defending the trophy. Their eventual total of 762 gave the bowlers a first-innings advantage of 628, leaving Tamil Nadu with a huge task simply to make Karnataka bat again.

Nair's 328 remains the individual headline, but Rahul's 188 and Vinay's unbeaten hundred explain how the side sustained that advantage through the batting order.

Karnataka First Had to Recover

The first-day position of 45/4 meant Karnataka had not yet passed Tamil Nadu's 134. Nair's innings therefore began within a contest that was still open, rather than after an overwhelming lead had already been established.

Rahul's contribution was central to the recovery. His eventual 188 helped move the innings beyond the immediate need to survive and towards a position from which Karnataka could control the final.

The early score gives the triple-century its shape. The innings first repaired damage, then enlarged the lead as the batting side retained wickets and time.

Three Major Scores Built the Seven Hundred

Nair's 328, Rahul's 188 and Vinay Kumar's 105 not out totalled 621 runs. The remaining 141 of Karnataka's 762 came from other batters and extras.

That calculation shows both Nair's importance and the depth of support. He contributed about 43 percent of the team total, a major share without accounting for the whole innings.

The captain's unbeaten hundred also extended the batting beyond the specialist top order. A team total of 762 required the innings to continue effectively after the initial recovery partnership.

The First-Innings Lead Was Six Hundred and Twenty-Eight

Subtracting Tamil Nadu's 134 from Karnataka's 762 produces 628. Tamil Nadu therefore needed at least that many in the second innings simply to draw level with Karnataka's aggregate.

Their second 411 improved greatly on the first innings, but it still left a difference of 217. Karnataka won by an innings and that number of runs because they did not need a second batting innings.

The final margin should not be described as a simple 217-run win. The words “an innings and” are part of the result and explain the scale of Karnataka's advantage.

The Record Nair Passed

Gul Mohammad's 319 for Baroda against Holkar in 1946–47 had been the individual final benchmark. Nair exceeded it by nine runs.

Gul Mohammad's innings formed part of a 577-run fourth-wicket partnership with Vijay Hazare, who made 288. That earlier final remains a major batting landmark even after its individual-score record changed hands.

The two performances belong to different eras, teams and match conditions. The highest-score ranking compares runs, while the accompanying histories explain how those runs were made.

A Final Record Is Not the Overall Ranji Record

Nimbalkar's 443 not out remains the larger individual innings in the tournament's overall table. Shaw's 379 and Manjrekar's 377 also exceed Nair's 328, but they were not scored in finals.

The final-stage qualification is therefore essential. Removing it would make the headline wrong even though the score itself was accurate.

The same principle applies to semi-final, debut and team-specific records. A qualified record can sit below an unrestricted maximum while still being the correct answer to its particular question.

Nair's International Triple-Century Is Separate

A player's Test and domestic innings belong to different competition records. Nair's international achievements do not add runs to the Karnataka final or change its historical score.

A career profile can discuss both, but it should retain the team, opponent and format for each. The 328 here is a Karnataka Ranji performance against Tamil Nadu at Wankhede.

That specificity allows readers to locate the correct scorecard instead of confusing two famous innings by the same batter.

The Championship Context

Karnataka were defending the title they had won in 2013–14. The 2014–15 victory completed consecutive championships and took their overall total to eight.

The individual record therefore coincided with a successful title defence. It was not a large score in a final that ended with the opposition receiving the trophy.

A complete account keeps both levels of achievement visible: Nair's 328 passed the final innings benchmark, while Karnataka's batting depth and bowling converted the recovery from 45/4 into an innings victory. The score is memorable because the match around it is equally substantial.

The Score Remains Three Hundred and Twenty-Eight

A report written when Nair reached 300 captures the milestone, while the completed scorecard supplies 328. Neither should be replaced by a projected score based on how comfortably he appeared to be batting.

The same principle applies to the team total. Karnataka's 762 is the recorded innings, not a hypothetical figure including unused batting time. Keeping completed totals separate from milestone snapshots makes the final's batting record and innings-winning margin straightforward to verify from the scorecard.