Cuttack, Mar 4 (PTI) Comeback man Sayan Sekhar Mondal dished out a solid all-round show to put Bengal in a commanding position in their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Chandigarh at the Barabati Stadium here on Friday.

Resuming day two on 329 for six, Bengal rode on Mondal's sublime 97 not out from 142 balls to post 437 runs in their first innings.

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In reply, Chandigarh ended the day at 133 fo six as Mondal also chipped in with his medium pace bowling to return with figures of 8-2-10-2.

Opening the bowling, Nilakantha Das, who replaced injured Akash Deep in the playing eleven, was impressive with figures of 14-4-25-3 while Mukesh Kumar (1/46) also picked up a wicket.

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Chandigarh trail Bengal by 304 runs with the latter eyeing at least three points from the match to confirm their place in the knockout stage.

Bengal lead Group B standings with 12 points, six points clear of Hyderabad before the ongoing final round clash.

Batting at no 8, left-handed Mondal ended day one on 33 in the company of senior partner Manoj Tiwary.

Returning to cricket after his foray into politics, Tiwary, who is the deputy sports minister of West Bengal, completed his 38th first class fifty before getting out for 53.

But Mondal carried on, with Mukesh Kumar (28) giving a fine support at the other end as the duo put together 72 runs for the eight wicket to take Bengal past 400-mark.

Eyeing his second first-class century, the 32-year-old, who was brought into the side in the last match against Hyderabad, did not get any fruitful support at the other end to be left stranded three runs short of the milestone.

"Feeling wonderful to get back for Bengal, very happy to contribute for my team and we are focused to win," Mondal said.

"Initially today the ball was moving and Manoj da (Tiwary) guided me throughout.

"He asked me to be patient, take my time to get set on the wicket and runs will come. Not thinking much about missing the hundred. Happy to contribute for Bengal," he added.

For Chandigarh, Jagjit Singh returned with figures of 5 for 87, while Gurinder Singh and Gaurav Gambhir claimed two wickets each.

Brief Scores:

At Barabati Stadium: Bengal 437 in 115.3 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 114, Sayan Sekhar Mondal 97 not out, Anustup Majumdar 95, Manoj Tiwary 53; Jagjit Singh 5/87) vs Chandigarh 133 for 6 in 52 overs (Manan Vohra 35, Ankit Kaushik 30 batting; Nilakantha Das 3/25, Sayan Mondal 2/10). Chandigarh trail by 304 runs.

At Vikas Cricket Ground: Hyderabad 197 and 169 for 6 in 59 overs (Chandan Sahani 54, Rohit Rayudu 49 batting) vs Baroda 163 in 47 overs (Abhimanyusingh Rajput 32, Vishnu Solanki 32; B Punnaih 4/35, Ravi Teja 4/50). Hyderabad lead by 203 runs.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)