An unbeaten half century by opener Arindam Das helped Bengal make a strong reply to Uttar Pradesh's challenging first innings total on the second day of the Ranji Trophy final in Lucknow on Monday.

After restricting the hosts to 387, Bengal reached 138 for two at close on the second day at the K D Singh Babu Stadium.

- Ranji Trophy 2005-06

Das (59) and Shib Sagar Singh (12) were at the crease at stumps. The visitors still trailed by 249 runs with eight wickets in hand.

Uttar Pradesh, resuming at 299 for 3, struggled in the face of some disciplined and accurate bowling by medium pacers Shib Shankar Paul (3 for 125) and Ranadeb Bose (3 for 86).

Overnight batsman Suresh Raina played brilliantly but missed his century as he was snapped at square leg by substitute Subhojit Paul off S S Paul.

Raina made 90 in 136 balls with the help of 13 fours. After Raina's dismissal at 333, the hosts lost two quick wickets, that of wicketkeeper Mohd. Amir Khan (3) and Jyoti Yadav (0) at the same score.

Gyanendra Pandey (26) and spinner Piyush Chawala (22) played responsibly and took the score to 370 before the latter was caught by Subhmoy Das off Saurashish Lahiri. Pandey was caught behind off S S Paul.

 Scorecard

Uttar Pradesh (1st innings): (overnight 299/3)
P Kumar c Das b Lahiri 48
Shiva Shukla c Gavaskar b Singh 71
M Kaif b Singh 92
Suresh Raina c Singh b Paul 90
Rizwan Shamshad c A Das b Bose 18
Amir Khan c Dasgupta b Bose 3
Jyoti P Yadav lbw Paul 0
Gyanendra Pandey c Dasgupta b Paul 26
Piyush Chawla c Das b Lahiri 22
Shalabh Srivastava not out 3
Ashish Zaidi c Jhunjhunwala b Bose 1
Extras: (b-4, lb-6, w-1, nb-2) 13
Total: (all out in 124.3 overs) 387

Fall of wickets: 1-72, 2-195, 3-258, 4-303, 5-333, 6-333, 7-333, 8-370, 9-382

Bowling: S S Paul 42-5-125-3; Ranadeb Bose 28.3-5-86-3; Laxmi Ratan Shukla 2-0-8-0; Sourashish Lahiri 26-5-76-2; Shibsagar Singh 23-4-59-2, A Jhunjhunwala 1-0-13-0; Monoj Tiwary 1-0-5-0; Rohan Gavaskar 1-0-5-0.

Bengal (1st innings):
Arindam Das batting 47
Subhomoy Das b Srivastava 34
A Jhunjhunwala lbw b Piyush Chawla 22
Shibsagar Singh (batting) 11
Extras: (lb-1, w-6, nb-4) 11
Total: (for 2 wkts, in 41 overs) 125

Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-102

Bowling: Ashish Zaidi 10-3-21-0, Kumar 10-1-44-0, Srivastava 13-3-42-1, Piyush Chawla 8-1-17-1.