Karnataka made up for their first innings debacle, scoring 97 without loss in their second outing after bowling out Bengal for 238 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group semi-final at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, on Wednesday.
Bowled out for 89 in their first innings, Karnataka showed determination, with both their openers remaining unbeaten at stumps.
Bharat Chipli was batting on 64, off 85 balls. His score, with the half century coming in just 59 balls, was studded with 12 hits to the boundary.
A poised Rowland Barrington held fort at the other end, scoring 26 runs off 96 balls, inclusive of two boundaries.
Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 121 for four, Bengal's first innings folded up at 238.
Opener Arindam Das made a valiant 88 runs, while his overnight partner Laxmi Ratan Shukla scored 41 runs.
After they were out, the Bengal innings folded quickly, the last four wickets falling for just 10 runs.
For Karnataka, S Dhananjaya and B Akhil claimed three wickets each giving away 45 and 52 runs respectively.
Vinay Kumar and Sunil Joshi picked two wickets each.
With Karnataka just 52 runs behind overall, it is still an open game with three days to go.
Scorecard
Karnataka (1st innings): 89
Bengal (1st innings):
S Das b Vinay Kumar 2
Arindam Das c Rowland b Joshi 88
A Jhunjhunwala c Bhatkal b Dhananjaya 2
M Tiwary c Naidu b Vinay Kumar 0
R Gavaskar c Rowland b Dhananjaya 63
L Shukla c & b Dhananjaya 41
D Dasgupta lbw b Akhil 14
S Lahiri c Vinay Kumar b Joshi 20
S Sarkar c Naidu b Akhil 0
R Bose c Naidu b Akhil 0
A Dinda not out 2.
Extras: (lb 2, w 3, nb 1) 6
Total: 238
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-15, 3-16, 4-99, 5-192, 6-207, 7-229, 8-235, 9-235.
Bowling: Vinay Kumar 27-8-69-2, S Dhananjaya 18-5-45-3, R Bhatkal 9-4-22-0, B Akhil 27-9-52-3, S Joshi 14.1-4-32-2, B Chipli 3-0-6-0, C Raghu 2-0-10-0.
Karnataka (2nd innings):
B Chipli not out 64
B Rowland not out 26
Extras: (b 1, lb 2, w 3, nb 1) 7
Total: (for no wicket; 30 overs) 97
Bowling: R Bose 10-1-25-0, S Sarkar 8-2-25-0, L Shukla 1-0-9-0, A Dinda 6-2-19-0, S Lahiri 4-0-15-0 (1nb), R Gavaskar 1-0-1-0.
