A carefully crafted maiden century of the season by Amol Muzumdar and his 122-run stand with a free-stroking Nishit Shetty helped Mumbai gain the lead against Bengal on the second day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite division Group 'A' match in Mumbai on Saturday.

The 31-year-old right-hander played a responsible knock of 105, strung in 380 minutes and inclusive of 13 fours in 254 balls, and put on an invaluable stand with the left-handed Shetty (63) to help Mumbai to a first innings score of 244 in reply to Bengal's 171.

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Shetty, who ran his singles well and was on the look-out for runs, struck five fours and two sixes during his 160-minute stay during which he faced 94 balls.

The value of the duo's fourth-wicket stand, occupying 34 overs, to the team's cause, after coming together at the fall of overnight unbeaten batsman Vinit Indulkar (28) at 71, came to the fore after the partnership got broken. The home team lost their last seven wickets for just 51 runs.

Bengal's medium pacer Ashok Dinda was the most successful bowler with a haul of five for 80, on a wicket that had eased out considerably after being pretty lively yesterday due to the surface moisture.

Mumbai, who started the day at 50 for two, got a lead of 73 runs over Bengal, who batted with more composure on the eased out pitch in the second innings to end the day at 37 for no loss.

Scorecard

Bengal (1st innings): 171

Mumbai (1st innings):
S Kukreja c Dasgupta b Paul 0
W Jaffer b Paul 2
V A Indulkar c Paul b Dinda 28
A Muzumdar c Dasgupta b Lahiri 105
N Shetty c Dasgupta b Dinda 63
O Khanvilkar b Dinda 6
V R Samant c Tewari b Dinda 3
N Kulkarni b Dinda 2
U Malvi c Shukla b Bose 8
S Hazare c Dasgupta b Lahiri 1
A Salvi not out 13.
Extras: (b 1, lb 2, nb 10) 13
Total: (all out, 94.1 overs, 463 mins) 244

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-13, 3-71, 4-193, 5-213, 6-219, 7-219, 8-229, 9-230, 10-244.

Bowling: Paul 24.3-5-66-2 (8nb), Bose 19.1-5-41-1, Dinda 29.3-8-80-5 (1nb), Lahiri 19-5-50-2, Gavaskar 2-1-4-0.

Bengal (2nd innings):
Arindam Das not out 7
S Das not out 28.
Extras: (lb 1, nb 1) 2
Total: (no wicket, 15 overs) 37

To bat: SS Lahiri, DJ Gandhi, RS Gavaskar, LR Shukla, D Dasgupta, M Tewari, SS Paul, RR Bose, A Dinda.

Bowling: Salvi 7-3-16-0, Hazare 3-1-10-0, Malvi 3-1-6-0, Kulkarni 1-1-0-0, Khanvilkar 1-0-4-0 (1nb).