Up against a first-innings total of 353, Gujarat needed at least one century from an individual batsman to pose even a semblance of a challenge to Bengal in their Ranji Trophy quarter-final at the Eden Gardens. On the third day, it was Kirat Damani who put up his hand for the job.

Unbeaten overnight on an even 50, Damani could not continue his profitable stand with H Joshipura (63) for too long, the latter falling after the addition of just two runs to the total. But Damani found staunch support first from Lalit Patel (16 off 98 balls) and then from Tejas Varsani (20 off 112 balls).

The solid knocks from these batsmen enabled Damani to score the runs at the other end, and this he did with panache. He hit 18 fours in his knock of 118, occupying the crease for 347 minutes and 258 balls.

Gujarat finally folded for 321 off 147 overs, the tail unable to add any significant runs before falling to Saurashish Lahiri. The off-spinner took six wickets for 73 runs and was the chief destroyer of Gujarat's lower middle order.

Bengal, thus, took a first-innings lead of 32 runs, and it will be up to their batsmen tomorrow to build on that slender foundation enough to give their bowlers a chance to take their side to a win in the final two days of the quarter-final.

© CricInfo