Bengal take innings lead

Considering that Bengal will have to bat last in the match it isn8217;t far-fetched for the visiting camp to read Bengal8217;s lead as no way near a runaway advantage. Baroda coach Balwinder Singh Sadhu said after the day8217;s play: 8220;They may be five runs ahead with five wickets in hand. But it8217;s a mistake to think that they have the advantage. They have to bat last, and that means if we restrict their lead to say even 100, then we will still be better placed.

8220;At this point, we anyway aren8217;t behind at all from the overall match point of view,8221; he said.

Rakesh Patel made the most of the seaming conditions in the first hour on an otherwise unresponsive wicket.

After two darting deliveries sent Arindam Das and new sensation Abhishek Jhunjhunwala with ducks, one could sense the discomfiture in the Bengal camp. But Subhamoy and steadied the ship with a 98-run third-wicket stand that not just took the fizz out of a fast tiring Patel, but forced skipper Jacob Martin to withdraw into a slow-go approach till the batsmen bungled out of frustration.

Brief scores

Baroda: 241 vs Bengal 264/5 Das 115, Tiwari 35, Dasgupta batting 50; Ptel 2/66, Pawar 2/62.