Opener Arindam Das struck a patient 91 to help Bengal take a vital 136-run first innings lead and assure themselves of two valuable points against Hyderabad on the penultimate day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite group B match in Kolkata on Thursday.
The 22-year-old Das, who replaced Abhijit Chakraborty after the hosts' disastrous performance against Assam, showed tremendous grit as he defied the rival bowlers for more than six hours before Sanjib Sanyal (59; 167m, 111b, 10x4) took over to enable Bengal reach 388 in reply to Hyderabad's first innings score of 252 at the Eden Gardens.
Resuming at overnight score of 153 for three, Bengal lost Devang Gandhi (28) in the 11th over of the morning session when he was caught behind the stumps by Ibrahim Khaleel of spinner Shivaji Yadav.
Das, who hit 12 fours and faced 286 balls during his 364-minute stay in the middle, departed eight overs later as Bengal reached 200 for five.
The hosts lost two more wickets in the morning session but Sanyal and tail-enders Utpal Chatterjee (31) and Sourasish Lahiri (41 not out) extended the innings.
Hyderabad skipper Shivaji Yadav (5/124) emerged as the most succesful bowler for the visitors.
The Hyderabad second innings began on a wrong note as openers Nanda Kishore (4) and Daniel Manohar (24) returned to the pavilion early.
At stumps, promising A T Rayudu (11) and Faiz Ahmed (0) were at the crease.
Veteran Bengal spinner Utpal Chatterjee took the wicket of Manohar to take his total match haul to nine.
Scoreboard:
Hyderabad first innings: 252
Bengal first innings:
A Das c Nanda Kishore b S Yadav 91
N Haldipur lbw b Yadav 18
A Roy c V V Rao b S Yadav 0
R Gavaskar st I Khaleel b S Yadav 36
D Gandhi c I Khaleel b S Yadav 28
S Sanyal b I S Reddy 59
L R Shukla c I Khaleel b V V Rao 34
S S Singh lbw b I Reddy 18
U Chatterjee c A T Rayudu b A Yadav 31
S Lahiri not out 41
S S Paul st I Khaleel b I S Reddy 2
Extras (B-4, LB-7, NB-17, W-2) 30
Total (all out in 145.3 overs) 388
FoW: 1/52, 2/52, 3/139, 4/183, 5/200, 6/263, 7/303,
8/344, 9/344
Bowling: N P Singh 18-8-34-0, V V Rao 12-2-28-1, I S
Reddy 31.3-9-81-3, S Yadav 50-14-124-5, F Ahmed 10-4-19-0, A T
Rayudu 17-3-57-0, D Manohar 3-0-16-0, A Yadav 4-0-18-1.
Hyderabad second innings
N Kishore c A Roy b S Sanyal 4
D Manohar c L R Shukla b U Chatterjee 24
A T Rayudu batting 11
F Ahmed batting 0
Extras: (B-1, NB-1) 2
Total (for 2 wkts, in 16 overs) 41
FoW: 1/18, 2/40
Bowling: S S Paul 4-1-10-0, S Sanyal 5-2-10-1, U
Chatterjee 5-1-15-1, S Lahiri 2-0-5-0.
