Defending champions Mumbai retained the Ranji Trophy by virtue of their first innings lead against Tamil Nadu in the 'Elite' championship final in Chennai on Tuesday.

Trailing by 320 runs, Tamil Nadu scored 353 for four in their second innings to deny the holders an outright victory.

S Badrinath (110) and Hemang Badani (77) remained unbeaten at the end of the final day's play.

Jubiliant Mumbai captain Sairaj Bahutule, who received the trophy from Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary S K Nair, credited the triumph to team effort.

"I am very happy. The last two years have been good to us. It was a good team effort and I am honoured to be the captain of the side," he said.

Rival captain Suresh admitted that his side did not use the chance after winning the toss to put up a good total.

"Coming so far and to lose in the final and that too at home really hurts. But we have learnt a lot from Mumbai and this match," he said.

In an instant honour for the champions, Mumbai Cricket Association secretary Lalchand Rajput announced a bonus of Rs four lakh to the team which won the trophy despite the absence of star players Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar, who are with the Indian team in Pakistan.

Realising the importance of their stand, Badrinath and Badani played with utmost caution, resorting to defensive tactics, particularly in the first session after medium pacer Munaf Patel sent back Ramesh in his third over of the day.

However, once the new ball was taken shortly before lunch, they launched an offensive, scoring the runs freely.

The highlight of the post-lunch session was a 100-run partnership and Badrinath crossing his half-century.

The script remained the same even after the tea break, with no success for the Mumbai bowlers.

The batsmen added 70 runs as Badani reached his 50 off 159 balls.

Tamil Nadu wiped out the first innings deficit 30 minutes after tea with Badrinath on 97 and Badani on 57.

Badrinath took his own time to reach his century as he faced 37 balls to score the three runs. A cracking square-cut off Bhavin Thakkar saw him reach the deserving three-figure mark.

Scoreboard:

Tamil Nadu (1st innings): 294

Mumbai (1st innings): 613

Tamil Nadu (2nd innings):
S Suresh c and b Bahutule 36
Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan st Samant b Kulkarni 70
S Sriram st Samant b Bahutule 5
S Ramesh lbw Munaf Patel 35
S Badrinath not out 110
Hemang Badani not out 77

Extras: (b-1, lb-7, w-2,  nb-10) 20

Total: (for four wkts at close in 149 overs) 353

Fall of wickets: 1-80, 2-94, 3-135, 4-180.

Bowling: Avishkar Salvi 10-1-38-0; Munaf Patel 18-1-60-1; Nilesh Kulkarni 40-8-85-1; Sairaj Bahutule 32-8-77-2; Vinayak Mane 15-4-32-0; Manoj Joglekar 21-5-28-0; Bhavin Thakkar 11-8-22-0; Amol Muzumdar 2-0-3-0.