Having virtually sealed a place in the final after a 12-year gap, Bengal were now eyeing an outright win against Baroda in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group semi-final on Monday.

At close on day four, Baroda were 101/2, still needing 277 runs to avoid an innings defeat with a full day's play still left at the Eden Gardens.

- Ranji Trophy 2005-06

Earlier, the Bengal first innings folded for 619, 23 minutes into the post-lunch session, taking a mammoth 378-run lead over the visitors.

Resuming at the overnight score of 517/6, the hosts lost centurion L R Shukla (141; 371b, 469m, 19x4, 1x6) in the day's fifth over, as the all-rounder edged an away-going Shekhar Joshi ball and Pinal Shah took an easy catch behind the stumps.

Sourasish Lahiri (62) and Shibsagar Singh (40 no) then came together to further consolidate Bengal's position with a 90-run eighth-wicket stand that went past the lunch break.

Pacer Irfan Pathan [Images] (Sr) finally separated the duo by uprooting Lahiri's stumps, before claiming Ranadeb Bose (0) in the same over.

The bowler polished off the Bengal innings by snaring S S Paul in the next over.

Baroda got two early jolts in their second innings, as openers Pinal Shah (13) and Rakesh Solanki (10) departed early, before Connor Williams (34 batting) and skipper Jacob Martin (30 batting) prevented any further damage adding 71 runs in their unfinished third-wicket stand.

Scorecard:

Baroda first innings all out 241
Bengal first innings (overnight 517/6)
A Das c P Shah b R Patel             0
S Das c & b Y Pathan               115
A Jhunjhunwala lbw b R Patel         0
M Tiwari c Y Pathan b R Pawar       35
K H Mandal lbw b R Pawar             5
D Dasgupta c P Shah b S Joshi      171
L R Shukla c P Shah b S Joshi      141
S Lahiri b I Pathan (Sr)            62
S S Singh not out                   40
R Bose c J Martin b I Pathan (Sr)    0
S S Paul c P Shah b I Pathan (Sr)    0
Extras (b-19, lb-12, nb-19)         50
Total (All out, 224 overs)         619

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-10, 3-108, 4-128, 5-191, 6-505, 7-523, 8-613, 9-613.

Bowling: R Patel 38-10-111-2, I Pathan (sr) 35-9-91-3, S Joshi 31-7-83-2, R Pawar 52-13-113-2, Y K Pathan 40-10-103-1, A Bhoite 21-4-65-0, R Solanki 4-0-13-0, K Pawar 2-0-7-0, J Martin 1-0-2-0.

Baroda 2nd innings
P Shah b R Bose               13
R Solanki b L R Shukla        10
C Williams batting            34
J Martin batting              30
Extras (b-9, nb-5)            14
Total (For 2 wkts, 44 overs) 101

Fall of wkts: 1-19, 2-30.

Bowling: S S Paul 9-4-16-0, R Bose 11-2-38-1, L R Shukla 9-5-9-1, S Lahiri 9-0-17-0, S S Singh 6-2-12-0.