With Sourav Ganguly on 15 and Bengal delicately placed on 102 for 3 going into the third day’s play of the Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Eden Gardens, Baroda were given an unexpected gift by the opposition.

Despite a breezy 76 from the former Indian captain and skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla’s 69, Baroda were left off the hook by the Bengal batsmen, who gave away their wickets as well as the all-important first-innings lead.

Chasing Baroda’s first-innings 308, Bengal looked well set on 218 for four, with Ganguly setting himself up for a century. The day had begun with the former India skipper launching a full-fledged assault on Irfan Pathan, going on a boundary spree on the off-side. Ganguly dominated the bowling for the first hour or so, sending off Irfan to the sidelines.

Pacer Murtuja Vahora had removed overnight batsman Arindam Das (61) leg-before, but Bengal’s slide started when Ganguly was cleaned up by Yusuf Pathan after the batsman went for a rather casual backfoot prod. Skipper Shukla, who had been living dangerously throughout his knock, followed, holing out with an inside-out chip off Swapnil Singh. The tail folded up meekly, with Vahora (4 for 35) mixing up his deliveries well in the end to mop up the proceedings. Bengal lost their last six wickets for 75 runs, and were skittled out for 293.

Baroda were 58 for one at stumps.

Irfan gets into altercation

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