Holders North Zone needed just one session on Friday, the fourth day of the five-day Duleep Trophy final, to whip West Zone by six wickets and retain the inter-zonal championship for the second year running.
North, set to get 166 for a victory by West and starting the day at 74 for three, lost only one more wicket before coasting home on the strength of an unbeaten knock of 94 by opener Shikhar Dhawan.
Dhawan, overnight 44, did all the scoring in the first hour when his partner Yashpal Singh spent an unproductive hour at the crease at the Wankhede Stadium without adding any run before getting out to the 42nd ball he faced on the day.
Dhawan, who struck 13 fours and a six in his 274-minute stay in which he faced 160 balls, and Rajat Bhatia (33 not out in 68 balls with five fours) put on 53 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket to see North home to a record 17th title triumph just on the stroke of lunch.
The champions received Rs 30 lakh and the runners-up Rs 15 lakh.

SCORE BOARD

WEST ZONE (I Innings): 274
NORTH ZONE (I Innings): 340
WEST ZONE (II Innings): 231
NORTH ZONE (II Innings, (O/n: 73/3): Aakash Chopra lbw Trivedi 12; Shikhar Dhawan (not out) 94; Karan Goel c Parthiv b Makda 1; Mithun Manhas c Jaffer b Trivedi 1; Yashpal Singh c Rahane b Makda 15; Rajat Bhatia (not out) 33; Extras: (LB-1, W-5, NB-4) 10; Total: (4 wickets; 58.1 overs) 166.
Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-39, 3-40, 4-103.
Bowling: Siddarth Trivedi 20-11-42-2, Jobanputra 18-5-51-0, Makda 18.1-4-59-2, Rakesh Dhurv 2-0-13-0.