Bengal's Shiv Shankar Paul produced deadly pace bowling to claim seven wickets for 44 runs as runners-up Tamil Nadu, after being forced to follow-on, were left tottering at 110 for 2 at close, on the penultimate day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group B league match in Tiruneveli on Tuesday.
Tamil Nadu still need 102 more runs to avoid a humiliating innings defeat.
Replying to Bengal's first innings score of 400, the hosts, resuming at the overnight score of 84 for 3, were bundled out for a paltry 188 in 84.1 overs, 45 minutes after lunch, conceding a 212-run lead as Paul claimed five more wickets today to take his innings tally to seven.
S Badrinath, overnight 49, waged a lone battle, scoring 86 (192b, 274m, 2x6, 9x4), while medium pacer C Ganapathy (32) offered some resistance after coming in at No.8.
Seven Tamil Nadu batsmen failed to get into double figures.
Badrinath too eventually fell prey to the 22-year-old Paul, who has had a fine run this season, claiming six wickets in an innings in Bengal's previous matches against Rajasthan and Karnataka.
Tamil Nadu were cautious in their second innings with both the openers S Suresh and Dinesh Kartik, who was promoted, not taking any risks. But, Paul, who made his debut in 2000-01 season, provided the breakthrough, trapping Suresh (10) leg before while spinner Utpal Chatterjee castled Kartik (35).
The hosts, in their second essay, were 110 for 2 at close, with Badrinath (39) and M R Madanagopal (20) adding 40 runs for the unfinished third wicket partnership, facing a daunting task with a whole day to negotiate tomorrow.
Scoreboard
Bengal (1st innings): 400
Tamil Nadu (1st innings): (overnight 84-3)
S Suresh lbw Paul 0
Vidhyut c Haldipur b Paul 21
Badarinath c Roy b Paul 86
Madana Gopal c Paul b Chaterjee 5
Sath lbw Paul 5
Karthik c Roy b Lahiri 4
E Suresh b Paul 0
Ganesh Kumar c Haldipur b Chaterjee 8
R Ramkumar c Paul 18
Ganapathy not out 32
Shrinivas c Roy b Paul 4
Extras: (b-0, lb-0, w-1, nb-4) 5
Total: (all out in 84.1 overs) 188
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-33, 3-65, 4-86, 5-91, 6-92, 7-105, 8-141, 9-156.
Bowling: Shiv Sankar Paul 24.1-9-44-7, Laxmi Ratan Shukla 11-3-38-0, Sanjib Sanyal 4-0-20-0, Utpal Chaterjee 20-7-44-2, Saurashish Lahiri 18-8-33-1, Shib Sagar Singh 7-3-9-0.
Tamil Nadu (2nd innings):
S Suresh lbw Paul 10
D Karthik b Chaterjee 35
Badarinath batting 39
Madanagopal batting 20
Extras: (lb-4, nb-2) 6
Total: (for 2 wickets in 37 overs) 110
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-70.
Bowling: Shiv Sankar Paul 10-3-27-1, Laxmi Ratan Shukla 6-0-29-0, Sanjib Sanyal 2-0-7-0, Utpal Chatterjee 7-0-12-1, Saurashis Lahiri 7-1-17-0, Shib Sagar Singh 5-0-14-0.