Tamil Nadu lost quick wickets to find themselves in trouble at 84 for three after allowing Bengal to pile up a huge first innings score of 400 on the second day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match in Tirunelveli on Monday.

The Tamil Nadu top order failed to click as the hosts lost three wickets with the total on just 65. At draw of stumps, S Badrinath (49) and S Sarath (5) were at the crease.

For Bengal, medium-pacer Shiv Shankar Paul struck twice, removing openers S Suresh (0) and Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan (21) while Utpal Chatterjee dismissed M R Madanagopal (5).

Earlier, Bengal, resuming at their overnight score of 207 for three, consolidated their position riding on a patient century by Nikhil Haldipur and a strokeful 89 by Sanjib Sanyal before being bowled out for 400 in 139.3 overs.

Left-hander Haldipur, who played a major role on Sunday, having been involved in a 119 run first-wicket partnership with Amitava Chakraborthy, continued from where he left and reached the three-figure mark facing 267 balls in his stay of 371 minutes with 13 hits to the fence.

Haldipur and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (42) added 72 runs for the fourth wicket in 25.2 overs.

Sanyal played some delightful shots as he made 89 with the help of two sixes and 10 boundaries off 142 balls besides adding valuable 56 runs for the eighth wicket with Utpal Chaterjee (37).

Captain S Suresh emerged the most succesful bowler for Tamil Nadu, taking three for 80. Medium-pacer C Ganapathy and off-spinner Ganesh Kumar finished with a couple of wickets each.

Scoreboard:
Bengal (1st Innings)
A Chakraborthy c Kartik b Kumar            58
N Haldipur c Madanagopal b Kumar       100
D Gandhi c Ramkumar b Shrinivas            5
Subhhomoy Das LBW b Ganapathy        10
L R Shukla c Vidyut b Ram Kumar          42
Sanjib Sanyal lbw b Suresh                    89
Anuirudh Roy lbw b Ganapathy               11
Shib Sagar Singh b Vidyuth                    14
Utpal Chatterjee lbw b Suresh                 37
S Lahiri not out                                       1
Shiv Shankar Paul C Kumar b Suresh       0
Extras (b-5, lb-5, w-1, nb-22)                  33
Total: (all out in 139.3 overs)                400
Fall of wickets: 1/119, 2/128, 3/152, 4/224, 5/255, 6/286, 7/331, 8/387, 9/400
Bowling: M R Shrinivas 24-4-80-1; C Ganapathy 22-4-67-2; S Suresh 28.3-5-80-3; R Ramkumar 28-9-53-1; S R Ganesh Kumar 28-2-77-2, Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan 9-0-33-1.

Tamil Nadu (1st Innings)
S Suresh lbw b Paul                           0
S Vidyuth c Haldipur b Paul               21
S Badrinath batting                           49
J R Madanagopal c Paul b Chatterjee   5
S Sharath batting                               5
Extras: (w-1, nb-3)                             4
Total: (for 3 wickets in 33 overs)        84
Fall of wickets: 1/4, 2/33, 3/65.
Bowling: Shiv Sankar Paul 12-5-23-2; Laxmi Ratan Shukla 7-1-32-0; Sanjib Sanyal 4-0-20-0; Utpal Chatterjee 5-3-7-1; Saurashish Lahiri 5-3-2-0.