Replying to Bengal's modest first innings total of 298, Gujarat were in the driver's seat as they scored 269 for 3 on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'A' match in Siliguri on Friday.

Gujarat opener Akash Christian (87) and one-down batsman N Patel (86) put together a first-wicket stand of 154 runs. Both batsmen played a flurry of shots all around the wicket to put their team in a commanding position at the Kanchengha stadium.

Christian struck 14 boundaries before being caught by Nikhil Haldipur off a Sourashis Lahiri delivery while Patel's innings was studded with 13 hits to the fence. He was caught behind by former India 'keeper Deep Dasgupta off S S Pal.

At stumps, M Parmar (33) was giving company to Parthiv Patel on 13.

The Bengal attack was severely handicapped by some indisciplined bowling as the bowlers gave away 34 extras including 26 no balls.

Resuming their innings, Bengal added only 20 runs to their overnight score of 278 for 8 and folded up in just 7.4 overs.

Sanjib Sanyal scored the bulk of the runs today as he reached 54 before he was clean bowled by K Damani.

Scoreboard:

Bengal 1st innings:
A Das c N Patel b H Majumder 20
N Haldipur run out 21
D Gandhi b Lalit Patel 31
R Gavaskar run out 80
D Dasgupta c Parthiv Patel b J Makla 27
L R Shukla b K Damani  44
S Sanyal b K Damani 54
S Lahiri lbw K Damani 0
M Lodhgar run out 9
R Bose c A Christian 0

Extras (b-5, lb-1, nb-4, w-2)   12

Total (all out in 97 overs) 298

Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-69, 3-96, 4-165, 5-205, 6-256, 7-256

Bowling: S Trivedi 22-7-63-0, L Patel 23-8-51-1, H Majumder 14-3-43-1, T Patel 17-3-65-0, J Makla 13-0-61-1 K Damani 8-3-9-4.

Gujarat first innings:
N Modi c M Lodhgar b R Bose 16
A Christian c N Haldipur b S Lahiri  87
N Patel c D Dasgupra b S S Paul 86
M Parmar not out 33
P Patel not out 13

Extras (b-4, lb-4, nb-26)   34

Total (for 3 wickets, 81 overs)  269

Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-198, 3-238

Bowling: S S Paul 17-4-68-1, R Bose 13-4-35-1, S Sanyal 4-0-27-0, S Lahiri 17-7-56-0, M Lodhgar 20-8-56-1, R Gavaskar 8-2-13-0, A Das 1-0-5-0, L R Shuka 1-0-1-0.