Vasant Sarvanan scored a patient 123 as Assam took a first innings lead against Bengal on the second day of the 'Elite' Group B Ranji Trophy match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Sarvanan, who came to the rescue of his side after the loss of four wickets in the morning session, added 181 runs in a sixth-wicket partnership with Sukhbinder Singh (77 not out) as Assam surpassed Bengal's first innings total of 246 and ensured two points.
Bengal, who could face relegation in case they fail to cull any points from this tie, picked up quick wickets in the early hours to push the visitors to the back-foot at 117 for five at lunch break.
But Sarvanan and Singh made amends and added 181 runs off 322 balls before the former was caught by Sanjib Sanyal, off Ranadeb Bose, with 282 runs on the board.
The 25-year-old, who switched over to Assam from Tamil Nadu this year, scored his second hundred of the season in 318 minutes, facing 220 balls and with 20 hits to the fence.
Singh, on the other hand, remained undefeated at the end of the day's play but saw the fall of two wickets in the last over of the day.
Bengal seamer Shivshankar Paul, who has shown good form this season and scalped 10 wickets in the last outing, picked five wickets in the Assam innings.
Scoreboard
Bengal (1st innings): 246
Assam (1st innings):
P Das c U Chatterjee b S S Paul 30
S Saikia c N Haldipur b S S Paul 17
K Pawar lbw S S Paul 11
V Sarvanan c S Sanyal b R Bose 123
Z Zuffri lbw U Chatterjee 4
R Satish c A Roy b L R Shukla 2
S Singh batting 77
G Dutta c S Sanyal b S S Paul 5
R Raghuram b S S Paul 0
Extras: (b-2, lb-7, nb-8, w-2) 19
Total: (for 8 wkts, in 93 overs) 288
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-62, 3-67, 4-90, 5-101, 6-282, 7-288, 8-288
Bowling: S S Paul 21-4-89-5; R Bose 18-5-57-1; U Chatterjee 25-8-51-1; S Lahiri 17-3-40-0; L R Shukla 12-3-42-1.