Elite 'C' clinched the prestigious Duleep Trophy by virtue of its 104-run first innings lead
against Plate 'B' after their match ended in a tame draw at the Jawaharlal Nehru international stadium in Kochi on Sunday.
Resuming at their overnight score of 309 for 9, Plate 'B' batted for 13 more minutes this morning before being all out for 322.
Vijay Bharadwaj, who waged a lone battle and was unbeaten overnight on 94, duly completed his well-deserved century with a huge six off medium pacer Siddarth Trivedi in the very first over of the morning.
However, Trivedi had the last laugh when he had the batsmen edging to wicketkeeper Pankaj Dharmani after adding five more runs. Bharadwaj's knock of 105 had consisted of 10 hits to the fence and a six and had come from 251 deliveries.
The Plate 'B' innings ended at 322, conceding a first innings lead of 104 runs.
With the match becoming a mere formality after the first innings lead was decided, the captains decided to call of play in the sixth mandatory over.
Kiran Pawar batted fluently for Elite 'C' in their second venture and scored 50, which comprised seven boundaries while Jyoti Yadav contributed 23, Dharmani 23 and Hemang Badani 23.
Leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani was the pick of Plate 'B' bowlers, claiming 4 for 49 while left-arm spinner Sreekumar Nair took 2 for 43.
Elite 'C' had a tally of 21 points in the five-team league while Plate 'B', who finished runners-up, garnered 19 points from four matches.
