Elite 'C' are set to clinch the Duleep Trophy by virtue of the first innings lead, after they restricted Plate 'B' to 309 for 9 in their first innings at close of play on the penultimate day of the league match in Kochi on Saturday.

Plate 'B' face the daunting task of making another 188 runs through the last wicket pair to surpass their opponent's first innings total of 426 to upset Elite C's calculations.

If the match ends in a draw and Elite 'C' take the vital lead on the first innings, Plate 'B' will finish runners-up.

The highlight of today's play was former Indian player Vijay Bharadwaj's unbeaten 94 and his two fruitful partnerships which helped Plate 'B' cross the 300-run mark.

Bharadwaj, lucky to be dropped by wicketkeeper Pankaj Dharmani at 75 off medium pacer Siddarth Trivedi, added 61 runs for the fifth wicket with Sreekumar Nair (32) and 68 runs for the seventh wicket with Rakesh Dhruv (27). His invaluable knock included nine fours and came off 235 balls.

For Elite 'C', lanky leg-spinner Nilesh Kulkarni captured four wickets for 101, while off-spinner Kulamani Parida took 3 for 100.

Earlier, resuming at 76 for no loss, Plate 'B' lost opener Sujith Somasundar, who added just two runs to his overnight score.

Captain Arunkumar (overnight 41) looked to be shouldering the responsibility, but mistimed a turning ball from Kulkarni and was bowled for 78 (15x4, 1x6).

Scoreboard

Elite 'C' (1st innings): 426

Plate 'B' (1st innings):

J Arunkumar b Kulkarni 78

Sujith Somasundar c Dharmani b Trivedi 36

Hemanthkumar c Jyoti Yadav b Kulkarni 8

Vijay Bharadwaj batting 94

D Bundela b Parida 6

Sreekumar Nair c Doru b Pawar 32

Ajay Ratra c Badani b Parida 5

Rakesh Dhruv c Pawar b Kulkarni 27

Venkatesh Prasad lbw Parida 7

S Sreeshanth c Yera Goud b Kulkarni 1

N Hirwani batting 0

Extras (lb-5, b-2, nb-3, w-5) 15

Total (for 9 wkts in 120 overs) 309

Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-105, 3-130, 4-137, 5-198, 6-207, 7-275, 8-301, 9-302.

Bowling: Siddharth Trivedi 23-6-61-1, Jyoti Yadav 3-0-12-0, Nilesh Kulkarni 40-8-101-4, Kulamani Parida 44-10-100-3, Yere Goud 1-0-4-0, Kiran Pawar 9-2-24-1.