The duo was at its dogged best to see off the new ball as Bengal, who had put up a stunning first innings recovery from being 46/5, started off cautiously in their second essay. It was only in the last hour's play when Odisha brought in spinner Govinda Poddar, the India A regular, Abhimanyu lost his concentration and stepped out for an expansive drive to clear the open off-side region but only to be caught at cover.

Having got a reprieve at slip by Biplab Samantray, Koushik Ghosh too could not convert his start and was bowled, after being deceived in flight while trying to step out to part-time spinner Anurag Sarangi. Nevertheless, Bengal would find themselves in a comfortable position going into the penultimate day of the knockout fixture with eight wickets intact.

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The pace-heavy Odisha attack sorely missed pacer Rajesh Mohanty, their second leading wicket taker with 32 wickets, as the likes of Basant Mohanty, Suryakant Pradhan failed to make any impact with the new ball. The Bengal pace battery of Porel, Mukesh and newcomer Das stuck to their task, dismissing the remaining six batsmen for 99 runs after Odisha resumed day three at 151 for 4.

The first breakthrough however came almost an hour into the morning and it was Das who started it all by dismissing nightwatchman Debabrata Pradhan. Mukesh then got into the act with a twin blow Samantray (3) and Rajesh Dhuper (10) before the lunch break.

The lanky pacer Porel then went through the tail as Odisha lost their last three wickets for 15 runs to concede the lead and give visitors' the edge.

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