Deposed India captain Sourav Ganguly hit a solid 159 as Bengal took a slender first innings lead in the Ranji Trophy match against Maharashtra in Pune on Friday.

Replying to Maharashtra's first innings of 350, Bengal recovered after the loss of four wickets for 63 runs to score 378.

Ganguly's 227-ball essay was studded with 17 fours.

Earlier, on day one of the four-day match, he claimed five wickets for 75 runs.

Rohan Gavaskar and Laxmi Ratan Shukla chipped in with useful contributions of 58 and 42 runs respectively to swell Bengal's total.

At stumps on day 3, Maharashtra were 101 for 3 after 42 overs in their second innings, a lead of 73 runs.

Scorecard

Maharashtra (1st innings): 350

Bengal (1st innings):
Arindam Das b Bahutule 30
S G Das b Sanclecha 9
D J Gandhi lbw b Suiyash Gorkole 5
S S Sanyal b Suiyash Gorkole 10
S C Ganguly b Munaf Patel 159
D Dasgupta lbw b RP Jadhav 27
R S Gavaskar c & b Mohan 58
L R Shukla c Satbhai b Munaf Patel 42
S S Lahiri c Pawar b Munaf Patel 2
S S Paul not out 5
Ashok Jinda b Munaf Patel 0.
Extras: (b 9, lb 2, w 2, nb 18) 31
Total: 378

Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-41, 3-59, 4-63, 5-147, 6-307, 7-351, 8-367, 9-378, 10-378.

Bowling: Munaf Patel 31.5-2-104-4 (7nb), Sanclecha 18-2-73-1 (3nb, 1w), Suiyash Gorkole 21-6-58-2 (1nb, 1w), Bahutule 29-4-73-1 (6nb), R P Jadhav 17-1-54-1, Mohan 1-0-5-1 (1nb).

Maharashtra (2nd innings):
M R Nigde c Dasgupta b Lahiri 30
Y S Pawar run out (Subhomoy Das) 39
H H Kanitkar not out 22
A V Kale c Subhomoy Das b Lahiri 0
D Mohan not out 1
Extras: (w 1, nb 8) 9
Total: (3 wickets, 42 overs) 101

To bat: Munaf Patel, Suiyash Gorkole, A A Sanclecha, S A Satbhai, S V Bahutule, R P Jadhav.

Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-90, 3-90.

Bowling: Ashok Jinda 6-0-27-0 (3nb), Sanyal 2-0-16-0 (1w), Shukla 13-3-35-0 (3nb), Lahiri 16-5-21-2 (2nb), Gavaskar 5-3-2-0.