Bengal were within touching distance of taking the first innings lead against Kerala, ending the second day on 236 for six, just three runs behind in Thumba.

Having taken just eight balls in the morning to clean up Kerala’s last three wickets, Bengal rode on opener Abhishek Raman’s 110, with former captain Manoj Tiwary lending support with 51.

Bengal’s innings began on a disastrous start losing captain Abhimanyu Easwaran for just 4. Koushik Ghosh followed a little later as Bengal were reduced to 26 for two.

Tiwary and Raman then got together to give some direction to the innings as they stitched together 99 runs for the third wicket. Tiwary's innings included five boundaries and a six.

But it was Raman’s innings that stood out. He faced 240 balls and hit seven boundaries and two sixes. None of the Kerala bowlers managed to dominate as Raman went about his task with ease.

“Raman played a handsome innings. Once he got a start he built on it. Manoj also played a good knock. We are only three runs short of taking the lead. With Sreevats (Goswami) and Shahbaz (Ahmed) playing so well first we will look to take at least a 50 to 75 run lead,” Easwaran said at the end of the day.

“We will be playing session to session and once we get a good lead we can really put them under pressure.” Sreevats however fell for 24.

Shahbaz is batting on 25 along with Arnab Nandi on 7.

Baisl Thampi and Karaparambil Monish were the most successful bowlers, picking two wickets each for Kerala. Thampi was impressive with the new ball but lacked consistency.

Ishan Porel took three wickets while Mukesh Kumar, Shahbaz and Arnab ended with two wickets each.