Skipper Manoj Tiwary and Sudip Chatterjee struck hundreds as Bengal turned the tables on Mumbai by wiping out the first innings deficit on the third and penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy Group A encounter here.
While Tiwary amassed 169 runs before being run out, Chatterjee scored 130 to take Bengal to 433 for 8 in their second innings. The team now has a 303-run lead, which seems suffice to save the match.
Overnight 198/3, Bengal put up an inspired batting performance riding on Tiwary and Chatterjee's big knocks to make up for the 99-run disaster in the first innings.
Tiwary struck 22 fours and a six in his 288-ball stay at the crease, while Chatterjee managed 18 hits to the fence in his 304-ball knock.
There were some useful contributions down the order as well with Pragyan Ojha's unbeaten 32-ball 30 being most notable.
For Mumbai, Dhawal Kulkarni grabbed four wickets for 108 runs in his 32 overs. Abhishek Nayar also picked up a couple of wickets.
Gujarat enforce follow-on
BElAGAVI: Gujarat put themselves in line for full seven points after enforcing the follow-on against Punjab on the back of a strong show by their bowlers on the third and penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match here on Thursday.
After declaring on 624 for 6, courtesy Priyank Panchal's triple century on the second day on Wednesday, Rush Kalaria picked four wickets for 41 runs to skittle Punjab for 247 in 85.2 overs in their first innings.
Manan Vohra top-scored with 68, while cameos from Mayank Sidhana (39), Gitansh Khera (35 not out) and Manpreet Gony (26) ensured Punjab added 113 for the last four wickets.
Hardik Patel and RP Singh complemented Kalaria by picking two wickets each.
Having to wipe out a deficit of 377, after being asked to follow-on, to prevent Gujarat from winning a bonus point, Punjab closed on 36 for 1, with Vohra (14 batting) and Jiwanjot Singh (4 batting) at the crease.
Punjab now trail by 341 runs overall with nine second innings wickets in hand.
A win for Gujarat will give them seven points, including one bonus point, and that will put them in a good position to qualify for the knock-out stage. They are at third position in Group A with 21 points from five matches before this game.
On the other hand, a loss for Punjab (17 points from six matches before this game) could mean that their qualification for the knockouts hinge on other results.
Only three top teams from Group will qualify for the knock-out phase.
MP close to big win
Dharamsala: Madhya Pradesh are just one wicket away from registering an outright win over Baroda, who were struggling at 114 for nine while chasing 347 on the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match here.
Madhya Pradesh, who had already earned a 53-run first innings lead, resumed their second essay on Thursday on 126 for five and straight away lost overnight batsman Shubham Sharma in the fourth over. They were 131 for six at that stage with an overall lead of 184.
Two partnerships of 50 for the sixth wicket and 69 for the ninth wicket helped MP add 162 more for the last four wickets before folding for 293, to set Baroda a huge target.
Overnight batsman Harpreet Singh (73) and Puneet Datey (41) chipped in with important runs, while Ishwar Pandey hit 36 off 41 balls at No. 10.
For Baroda, Atit Sheth finished with figures of 4 for 51.
Baroda faltered in their run chase, as barring an opening stand of 32 and a third-wicket partnership of 24, they failed to put up any resistance and collapsed to 95 for nine in 30 overs. Thanks to an unbroken last-wicket stand between Sagar Mangalorkar (8 batting) and Babashafi Pathan (10 batting), Baroda reached 114 for 9 at the close of play.
Rishav hits century
Vizianagaram: Riding on a century by Rishav Das (113) and an unbeaten 80 by Sibsankar Roy, Assam put up a much-improved batting performance in their second innings to reach 269 for five while following on against Jharkhand on the third day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match here.
Assam now lead by 79 runs with five wickets in hand.