Sudip Chatterjee missed out on a century by a whisker but his 98 and an unbeaten 82 from Sumanta Gupta helped Bengal recover from a precarious position to post 274 for six on day two of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match against Uttarakhand, on Thursday, October 16.
The hosts are now leading by 61 runs with four wickets in hand, having bundled out Uttarakhand for 213 on the opening day.
Starting the day overnight score of eight for one, Bengal batters struggled against pacer Devendra Singh Bora, who wreaked havoc, having removed skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran for a first-ball duck on the opening day.
He accounted for Sudip Kumar Gharami (15) and Anustup Majumdar (35) as Bengal slumped to 63 for three before lunch.
Wicketkeeper Abishek Porel's brief stay (21 off 40) ended soon after the break, leaving Bengal in trouble at 98 for four.
However, Chatterjee and Gupta stitched together a crucial 156-run stand for the fifth wicket that steadied the innings, blunting the bowling attack through the afternoon and evening sessions.
Left-handed Chatterjee, a former India A batter, who faced 264 balls and struck 12 boundaries, fell agonisingly short of a well-deserved century, edging Bora to slip just two runs short.
Gupta remained unbeaten on 82 off 149 deliveries, anchoring the lower middle order with composure as Bengal ended the day on a strong note.
Vishal Bhati (15) was the sixth batter to fall, bowled by Rajan Kumar (1/45), just before stumps.
Among the bowlers, Bora was the standout performer for Uttarakhand, while left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith and seamer Abhay Negi bowled economically but went wicketless.
Bengal will look to build on their total when play resumes on Day 2, with Mohammed Shami and the rest of the tail expected to support Gupta in pushing the total past the 300-run mark.
Brief Scores
In Kolkata: Uttarakhand 1st Innings: 213 all out.
Bengal 1st innings: 274/6 in 92.5 overs (Sudip Chatterjee 98, Sumanta Gupta 82 batting; Devendra Singh Bora 4/65).
In Surat: Haryana 171 and 201/9 in 65 overs (Parth Vats 106 not out, Himanshu Sangwan 4/31) vs Railways 128 all out.
In Delhi: Services 359 all out in 133.3 overs (Nakul Sharma 96, Pulkit Narang 69; Swapnil K Singh 5/104) vs Tripura 56/4 in 34 overs (H Vihari 16; Amarjeet Singh 2/20).
In Ahmedabad: Assam 310 all out in 132.4 overs (Sibsankar Roy 113, Pradyun Saikia 70, Riyan Parag 40, Siddharth Desai 3/68) vs Gujarat 166 for no loss in 44 overs (Abhishek Desai 80 batting, Aarya Desai 79 batting).
