The disciplined seam attack and fighting knocks from Abishek Porel (51) and Manoj Tiwary (42) helped Bengal settle its domination over Madhya Pradesh on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal at Holkar Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

The host stares at a 382-run deficit, with 56 at the loss of two early wickets at stumps. They lost the wickets of openers Yash Dubey and Himanshu Mantri, who looked well-set during their 27-run vigil. 

Akash Deep then offered an away delivery that took Dubey’s edge to the wicketkeeper before Mantri also got a leading edge to mid-off in Ishan Porel’s first over to leave MP with two night watchmen, Saransh Jain and Anubhav Agarwal, at the crease. 

Earlier, Tiwary and Abishek fought back with determination, ensuring Bengal did not lose two batters in quick succession for the third time in the match with an unyielding 78-run partnership after Gaurav Yadav raised Madhya Pradesh’s hopes of inflicting a collapse by forcing Shahbaz Ahmed to return being caught behind while driving down the wrong line.