Defiant batting by skipper Rohan Gavaskar (64 not out) and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (87), who put on 164 runs for the seventh wicket, helped Bengal deny Karnataka an outright victory in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match in Mandya on Tuesday.

Following on, the visitors, who made 228 in their first innings in reply to Karnataka's 411, ended the final day on 318 for seven in 105.1 overs in their second knock.

Karnataka, who lost to Tamil Nadu in their first encounter, gained two points from this match, while Bengal, beaten by Rajasthan in their opener, are yet to open their account.

The hosts scented victory as Bengal were reduced to 154 for six wickets at one stage. But Gavaskar and Shukla played sensibly to save the match.

Gavaskar hit eight fours in his 125-ball knock, while Shukla was run-out at the fag end of the day's play.

Shukla's knock included eight fours and three sixes. In the first innings, Shukla had top-scored for his side with 86.

Earlier, Nikhil Haldipur (66) and Amitava Chakraborty (56) shared a 117-run stand for the third wicket after the side was struggling at 22 for two.

Dodda Ganesh again grabbed four wickets, to take his total wicket-haul to eight.

Scoreboard

Karnataka (1st innings): 411

Bengal (1st innings): 228

Bengal (2nd innings): (overnight 17 for one)
A Chakraborty c D Chougule b D Ganesh 56
Deep Dasgupta lbw D Ganesh 0
S Lahiri lbw D Ganesh 16
Nikhil Haldipur lbw V Prasad 66
Sanjib Sanyal c Thilak Naidu b D Ganesh 0
S Das c Deepak Chougule b Sunil Joshi 7
Rohan Gavaskar not out 64
L R Shukla run out 87

Extras: (b8, lb11, nb1, w2) 22

Total: (for seven wickets, in 105.1 overs) 318

Fall of wicket: 1-0, 2-22, 3-139, 4-139, 5-150, 6-154, 7-318.

Bowling: Venkatesh Prasad  22-9-47-1, Dodda Ganesh 24-6-74-4, Stuart Binny 5-1-14-0, Sunil Joshi 32-11-83-1, Udit Patel 15-1-47-0, Sudhindra Shinde 2-0-7-0, Barrington Rowland 2-0-7-0, J Arun Kumar 2-0-14-0, Deepak Chougule 1.1-0-6-0.