Although Bengal is in little danger of losing, they also stand almost no chance of gaining the first-innings lead in their Ranji Trophy league match against Orissa at Baripada.

Orissa, resuming on Day Three on 575/5, added 96 more runs before declaring their innings closed. Prabanjan Mullick, overnight on 22, made an unbeaten 80, supported well by P Jayachandra and G Gopal. At 671/6, skipper Sanjay Raul finally ended the misery of the Bengal bowlers, three of whom conceded more than 100 runs in the innings.

Facing such a big total, Bengal lost Nikhil Haldipur and Arindam Das for just 57, but national find Deep Dasgupta and skipper Rohan Gavaskar took their side through to stumps without any further mishaps, putting on 136 runs for the third wicket.

At the close of play, Dasgupta was on 82, while Gavaskar made 51. Bengal were 193/2 in 60.1 overs.

© CricInfo