Flashback: Karnataka vs Mumbai in Ranji Trophy finals

Mumbai (then Bombay) and Karnataka (twice as Mysore) have contested four Ranji Trophy finals, with the former triumphing on three occasions.
 
- March 7-11, 1942
Match ended in three days
Mysore’s first entry into the final of the Ranji Trophy was hardly memorable. With JB Khot in the forefront, Bombay completed a commanding innings and 281-run win in just three days at the Brabourne stadium. Khot took six for 19 in Karnataka’s first-innings total of 68, and followed it up with five for 40 in the second to finish with match-figures of 11 for 59. Bombay’s massive 506 for nine declared was studded by KC Ibrahim’s 117 and a classy 60 by skipper Vijay Merchant.
Brief scores: Mysore: 68 all out in 46.2 overs (CJ Ramdev 28 n.o.; JB Khot 6-19, Raiji 2-12) and 157 all out in 61.4 overs (CJ Ramdev 28, B Frank 61; JB Khot 5-40, AK Bhalerao 5-46) lt to Bombay: 506/9 decl in 145 overs (MF Mistry 93, SM Kadri 29, MK Mantri 65, KC Ibrahim 117, VM Merchant 60, KM Rangnekar 26, MN Raiji 29 n.o;; BK Garudachar 3-161, GM Rajasekhar 2-6).

- March 10-14, 1960
Match ended in four days
Mysore’s second tilt at the Ranji Trophy, also against Bombay and also at the Brabourne stadium, was no different from the first. Bombay batted once and batted big, riding on GS Ramchand’s 106 and skipper Polly Umrigar’s 68 to amass 504. Mysore came unstuck against GM Guard, who picked up five for 66, and were shot out for 221 to concede a 284-run first-innings lead. V Subramanya’s battling 103 in the second innings helped them save some face, but with Guard (4/69) again in the forefront, Bombay completed an innings and 22-run win after dismissing Mysore for 261.
Brief scores:  Bombay: 504 all out in 141.3 overs (MS Hardikar 145, RB Kenny 32, PR Umrigar 68, GS Ramchand 106, HD Amroliwala 26, SJ Diwadkar 54; RK Gurav 2-81, BY Alva 2-96, D Das Gupta 4-77) bt Mysore: 221 all out in 93.4 overs (S Krishnamurthy 48, S Nazareth 41, RK Gurav 31, KS Viswanath 51; GM Guard 5-66, GS Ramchand 2-46, SJ Diwadkar 2-44) and 261 all out in 90.1 overs (RK Gurav 49, V Subramanya 103, BY Alva 27 n.o.; GM Guard 4-69, VG Lele 2-69).
 
- March 29-april 2, 1975
Match ended in four days
Not even a shift to the nearby Wankhede stadum made a difference to Karnataka’s fortunes as a strong Bombay side triumphed in four days by a comfortable margin of seven wickets. Gundappa Viswanath played a lone hand of 144 in Karnataka’s modest first-innings tally of 240, Karsan Ghavri doing the bulk of the damage with five for 66. Bombay replied with 305 for a lead of 65 as Sunil Gavaskar top-scored with 96 and Ghavri chipped in with 56. Karnataka’s second innings was no better than their first as they rolled over for 215, and Bombay knocked off the required runs with little difficulty to win in four days.
 
Brief scores:  Karnataka: 240 all out in 100.5 overs (GR Viswanath 144, BP Patel 28; AM Ismail 2-30, KD Ghavri 5-66, PK Shivalkar 2-54) and 215 all out in 98.5 overs (BP Patel 70, R Sudhakar Rao 34, AV Jayaprakash 47 n.o.; ED Solkar 4-43, PK Shivalkar 2-60, RP Tandon 2-16) lt to Bombay: 305 all out in 102 overs (SM Gavaskar 96, RD Parkar 36, AV Mankad 36, KD Ghavri 56; EAS Prasanna 6-123, BS Chandrasekhar 2-122, CR Lakshminarayan 2-2) and 151/3 in 37.1 overs (RD Parkar 33, AV Mankad 48 n.o., AM Pai 44 n.o.; BS Chandrasekhar 2-48).
 
- March 11-15, 1983
     
The Bombay hoodoo was finally laid to rest in March 1983 when, under Brijesh Patel, Karnataka lifted the title by virtue of their 17-run first-innings lead. Chandrakant Pandit’s 157 lifted Bombay to 534 as they made light of being asked to bat first, but Karnataka made a spirited reply with Roger Binny making 115 and Sadanand Viswanath slamming 92 at the top of the order. A middle-order collapse left Karnataka gasping at 293 for six before the tail rose to the occasion, J Abhiram scoring 69 and number ten B Vijayakrishna taking the team past the Bombay total in last man Raghuram Bhat’s company. Sandeep Patil made a sparkling century as Bombay declared their second innings at 213 for four in only 27 overs. Set 197 for victory, Karnataka settled for 179 for five.

Brief scores: Bombay: 534 all out in 192.4 overs (JL Sanghani 78, SM Patil 48, GA Parkar 60, CS Pandit 157, SV Nayak 67, RR Kulkarni 40; RM Binny 3-119, AR Bhat 4-121) and 213/4 decl in 27 overs (SM Patil 121 n.o., CS Pandit 33 n.o.; RD Khanwilkar 2-51, J Abhiram 2-48) drew Karnataka: 551 all out in 154.4 overs (MR Srinivasaprasad 29, S Viswanath 92, AV Jayaprakash 89, RM Binny 115, J Abhiram 69, RD Khanwilkar 32, B Vijayakrishna 42; RR Kulkarni 5-157, SJ Shetty 2-75, RC Thakkar 2-167) and 179/5 in 70 overs (S Viswanath 77, RM Binny 45; SJ Shetty 3-34).