North Zone players with the Duleep Trophy on Thursday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: The final day of the Duleep Trophy final went as per script with North Zone inflicting an eight-wicket defeat on Sri Lanka A at the Eden on Thursday.

Off-spinner Rajesh Sharma completed a five-wicket haul as Sri Lanka A’s second innings folded up for 426. Requiring 87 for an outright victory, North wrapped it up in 18.1 overs, half-an-hour before tea.

North Zone won the Duleep Trophy for the 16th time, thus catching up with West Zone.

Aakash Chopra was again in good nick, making a well-crafted unbeaten 51. Gautam Gambhir (16) and Ravneet Rickey (18) were the batsmen dismissed before the target was achieved.

The only significance of the morning session was Malintha Waranpura’s century. He resumed on 82 — with the Lankans needing 81 to make North bat again — and went on to remain unbeaten on 149. Wickets tumbled at the other end, but the left-hander stuck to his task to ensure Lanka A avoided the humiliation.

Warnapura’s knock spanned 385 minutes and he faced 269 balls of which 13 were dispatched to the boundary.

Admitting the fact that wicket was a batsman’s paradise, North Zone bowlers did their job quite tactfully taking 20 wickets to win the match outright.

Sri Lanka A, resuming Day 5 on 259 for four, lost Chamara Silva (34) when he was adjudged leg-before to Sharma. Truly speaking, Chamara’s innings of 34 off 26 was not required at that moment, instead he needed to hang on there with Warnapura to delay the inevitable.

Footnote: For the first time BCCI has presented a runners-up trophy to Sri Lanka A in memory of Late Sri V.J. Divecha.