Bengal are in sight of an outright victory after forcing Hyderabad to follow-on on the penultimate day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B league match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.

All-rounder A Shinde waged a lone battle after Hyderabad, replying to Bengal's first innings total of 461, resumed their first innings at 65 for 5. But his plucky 90 went in vain as the rest of the batting failed to rise to the occasion and Hyderabad were all out for 227.

Shinde faced 101 balls and hit 12 fours and a six.

For Bengal, spinner Saurashish Lahiri was the most successful bowler, claiming four wickets for 65. Medium pacer Shib Sunder Paul bagged three scalps conceding 37 runs.

Batting the second time, Hyderabad lost three wickets while scoring 86 runs.

At stumps, they were still 148 runs in arrears.

Hyderabad skipper V V S Laxman's [Images] poor form continued in the second innings as he fell to the guile of spinner Murtaza Lodhar, caught by Saurashish Lahiri, after scoring 18 runs.

Opener R Teja put up some resistance before he was out to Lodhgar after scoring 47.

Lodhgar also claimed the wicket of opener D Manohar, who scored only 7.

Scorecard

Bengal (1st innings):
A Chakraborty c Ravi Teja [Images] b Ojha 25
Arindam Das lbw b Lalith Mohan 25
A Majumdar c Ahmed b Arjun 25
M Tiwary st Ahmed b Ojha 203
M Safi Ahmed c Manohar b Shinde 14
L Shukla c Pai b Shinde 0
W Saha not out 111
S Lahiri st Ahmed b Lalith Mohan 21
M Lodhgar c Pai b Shinde 10
R Bose c Ravi Teja b Ojha 3
S Paul lbw b Ojha 2
Extras: (b 5, lb 13, w 1, nb 3) 22
Total: (all out; 145.1 overs; 561 mins) 461

Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-67, 3-126, 4-221, 5-221, 6-398, 7-433, 8-452, 9-459, 10-461

Bowling: Arjun 15 2 51 1, Shoaib 18 3 49 0, Ojha 51.1 14 151 4, A Lalith Mohan 35 6 95 2, Shinde 25 2 95 3, Ravi Teja 1 0 2 0

Hyderabad (1st innings):
D Manohar c Saha b Bose 8
D Ravi Teja c Saha b Paul 39
VVS Laxman c Saha b Paul 0
S Pai b Lahiri 8
A Yadav c Tiwary b Lodhgar 0
A Shinde st Saha b Lahiri 90
H Ahmed b Lahiri 23
M Arjun b Paul 0
P Ojha b Tiwary 35
S Shoaib lbw b Lahiri 12
A Lalith Mohan not out 0
Extras: (b 4, lb 2, w 1, nb 5) 12
Total: (all out; 79.1 overs) 227

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-21, 3-54, 4-56, 5-56, 6-96, 7-99, 8-173, 9-212, 10-227.

Bowling: R Bose 19-4-83-1, S Paul 20-8-37-3, S Lahiri 20.1-5-65-4, M Lodhgar 11-3-13-1, M Tiwary 9-2-23-1

Hyderabad (2nd innings):
D Manohar c Paul b Lodhgar 7
D Ravi Teja c Arindam Das b Lodhgar 47
VVS Laxman c Lahiri b Lodhgar 18
S Pai not out 5
A Yadav not out 5
Extras: (lb 1, nb 3) 4
Total: (3 wickets; 32 overs) 86

To bat: A Shinde, H Ahmed, MP Arjun, PP Ojha, SM Shoaib, A Lalith Mohan

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-71, 3-81

Bowling: R Bose 7-2-26-0, S Paul 5-1-12-0, S Lahiri 5-0-20-0, M Lodhgar 13-5-22-3, M Tiwary 2-0-5-0