Amogh Desai remained unbeaten on a defiant 53 to stage a recovery after Ashok Dinda claimed three wickets, as Goa reached 191 for five on day two of their Ranji Trophy Group D fixture against Bengal.
Desai and Keenan Vaz (40 batting; 6x4) stood in an unbroken 61-run sixth-wicket partnership to resist Bengal pacer Dinda's onslaught when bad light stopped play with Goa still trailing Bengal by 188 runs.
Dinda brilliantly led Bengal's bowling attack to finish with figures of 3 for 41 from his 15 overs after the young duo of B Amit and Kanishk Seth took the first two wickets.
Desai and Vaz will have an uphill task in hand, especially in the moisture-laden first session on the Eden Gardens track tomorrow, as the hosts would look to wrap Goa up in their bid for a first innings lead, which would ensure a last-eight berth for Bengal.
With leaders Vidarbha through, the fight is among Bengal, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in Group D.
Bengal are the frontrunners and they will make the cut if they pocket a first innings lead.
They could, however, be knocked out if they concede a lead, and Punjab record an outright win over Services.
Himachal have a tough road ahead and can only progress if Bengal and Punjab lose their respective matches, and they beat Vidarbha with a bonus point.
Overnight 305 for five, Bengal's first innings folded for 379 in a little over an hour in the first session as Goa's debutant seamer Lakshay Garg returned with a fine figures of four for 89.
Garg gave the first breakthrough when he cleaned up Writtick Chatterjee (28) in the fifth over of the day and went on to end the dogged resistance of centurion Anustup Majumdar (119 from 208 balls; 15x4) as Bengal managed to add only 74 runs to their overnight total.
In reply, Goa stuttered as B Amit removed Sumiran Amonkar (12), while Seth dismissed Prathamesh Gawas (4) to leave the visitors struggling at 42/2 inside 17 overs.
Goa showed a brief resistance with opener Swapnil Asnodkar in the middle but Dinda trapped him LBW and also went on to dismiss Snehal Kauthankar and Darshan Misal.
Having being dropped twice on 41 and 43, Desai notched up his 13th half-century and along with Keenan, ensured they sign off the day without any further damage.
Brief scores:
Bengal 1st innings: 379 in 99.3 overs (Shreevats Goswami 139, Anustup Majumdar 119; Lakshay Garg 4/89, Heramb Parab 2/58, Felix Alemao 2/86).
Goa 1st innings: 191/5 in 62 overs (Amogh Desai 53 batting, Keenan Vaz 40 batting; Ashok Dinda 3/41).
Saurashtra score 534 in first innings against Rajasthan
Three half-centuries in addition to Avi Barot's ton helped Saurashtra score 534 in their first innings against Rajasthan on day two of their Group B Ranji Trophy match here today.
After overnight centurion Avi Barot was out for 130 after adding just two runs to his yesterday's score, another unbeaten batsman in Sheldon Jackson, starting on 54, made 94, followed by lower-order batters -- Jaydev Unadkat (88) and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (79 not out) -- chipping with crucial runs.
Rajasthan's bowlers toiled for almost 144 overs before Saurashtra's innings folded for 534.
Jadeja then returned to take two Rajasthan wickets, as the hosts finished the second day on 60 for two.
Earlier, Barot's dismissal in the opening hour triggered the fall of two more wickets -- Prerak Mankad and Chirag Jani -- in quick succession, leaving Saurashtra at 313 for six.
But then Jackson and Unadkat added 71 runs for the seventh wicket before the former was out six runs short of his century.
Unadkat though carried on and put on another 98 runs stand for the eighth wicket with Jadeja. The two lower-order batsmen together smashed 17 fours and two sixes.
Rajasthan started their innings well with openers Amitkumar Gautam (26) and Chetan Bist (30 not out) adding 60 for the first wicket, but Jadeja's double-wicket in the 28th over -- the day's last -- hampered the hosts' progress.
Rajasthan still trail Saurashtra by 474 runs.
Delhi in control of Ranji match against Hyderabad
Kulwant Khejroliya and Vikas Mishra picked up three wickets apiece as Delhi took control of their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Hyderabad on the second day here today.
At stumps, Hyderabad were reduced to 194 for 8, trailing by 221 runs with two first innings wickets remaining. Delhi are now in a strong position from which they could possibly enforce the follow-on against Hyderabad.
Hyderabad suffered a collapse that saw them slip from 107 for 2 to 170 for 8. They finally finished on 194 for 8 at stumps in response to Delhi's 415, with only Tanmay Agarwal offering any sort of resistance in top scoring with 63 from 159 balls.
Earlier in the day, Delhi, who began at 336 for 5, added 79 for the loss of their last five wickets, with Vikas Tokas' unbeaten 28 helping them cross the 400-mark.
New ball bowler Ravi Kiran and left-arm spinner Mehedi Hasan picked up three wickets each for Hyderabad.
In other Group A matches:
In Pune, Assam were 101 for 3 from 35 overs in their second innings after bundling Maharashtra out for 253.
In New Delhi, Railways were 241 for 4 from 65 overs after bundling Karnataka out for 434 (Arindam Ghosh 70 batting, Mahesh Rawat 86 batting).
TN crawls to 226 for 5 after Baroda posts 309
Tamil Nadu was made to work hard in its response of Baroda's first innings score of 309 by reaching 226 for 5 in 79 overs at stumps on day two of the Ranji Trophy Group "C" match here today.
Half-centuries by Baba Aparajith (59 batting, 139 balls) and Baba Indrajith 58 (120 balls, five fours, one six) helped steady the ship for Tamil Nadu after it had slipped to 74 for 3.
Skipper Abhinav Mukund, from whom a lot was expected, failed in the crunch game,falling to Dhruv Patel for just six.
The other opener N Jagadeesan had been dismissed earlier, caught by Deepak Hooda off Lukman Meriwala's bowling for 7.
M Kaushik Gandhi,who was recalled to the playing XI after missing the games against Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, played with some positive intent and made 35 before falling to a catch by substitute A A Pathan.
Aparajith and Indrajith came together to put on 73 runs as the visitors attempted to rebuild after the top-order failed to get going.
Indrajith, who has been in good form this season, struck five boundaries and hoisted one over the ropes before Kakade dismissed him for 58.
Aparajith, who too has been among the runs for TN, lost the talented, young M S Washington Sundar (12), who edged Kakade to the wicket-keeper M G Patel.
He found an able partner in J Kousik (37) and the two added 59 runs, making sure that the team didn't suffer any more setbacks.
Tamil Nadu is still 83 runs behind in this must-win game.
Earlier, resuming at the overnight 254 for 8, the home side added a further 55 runs to the total. Swapnil needed eight balls to move from 94 to a well-deserved century.
He guided the No.10 and No.11 batsman to take the score past 300 and used the long handle to good effect. He hit five more sixes to take his tally to eight and also slammed 13 fours before being the last man out for 144 (226 balls).
Brief scores: Baroda 309 all out in 98.1 overs (Swapnil K Singh 144, K Vignesh 3 for 52) vs Tamil Nadu 226 for 5 in 79 overs (B Aparajith 59 batting, B Indrajith 58, Kaushik Gandhi 35, Kartik Kekade 2 for 63).
At Indore: Odisha 147 all out in 52.2 overs (Shantanu Mishra 60, Chandrakant Sakure 4 for 42) 18 for no loss in 10 overs vs Madhya Pradesh 388 all out in 115 overs (Rajit Patidar 123, Devendra Bundela 62, Puneet Datey 56, Govinda Poddar 7 for 102).
At Mumbai: Tripura 195 all out in 60.4 overs (M B Mura Singh 43, Akash Parkar 5 for 32) vs Mumbai 421 for 8 in 111 overs (Jay Bista 123, Siddhesh Lad 123, Aditya Tare 67, Dhawal Kulkarni 50 batting, Mura Singh 5 for 71).
