Assam failed to capitalise on a brave 59 by Shubhadip Ghosh and were dismissed for 273 in their first innings on the second day of the Ranji Trophy tie against Baroda at the Nehru stadium in Guwahati on Monday.
In reply, the strong Baroda line-up, boasting of several former internationals, was 162 for 4.
On a placid wicket, the home team was expected to pile up anything in the region of 300 as the first innings lead could be vital but they were restricted by some disciplined bowling by young medium pacer Rakesh Patel, who took four wickets for 84 runs.
Ghosh showed good technique for his well-made 59 before becoming the first victim of Patel.
Former skipper Sukhbinder Singh played a stubborn innings of 48 before he was stumped by former India wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia.
With the exit of the duo, the tail-enders put up little resistance as the innings folded up at 273.
Former International Jacob Martin compiled a well-made 58 and was unconquered as the visitors reached 162 for four at close.
At one stage, the visitors were tottering at 59 for 3 due to some splendid bowling by medium pacer Zaved Zaman, who bagged the wickets of Satyajit Parab and Rishikesh Parab in quick succession.
But the experienced Martin came to his team's rescue. He teamed up with Kiran Pawar to take the score to 138 before the latter perished in the closing stages for 43 to Sukhbinder Singh.
Baroda need to make 112 more runs to gain the vital first innings lead.
Scoreboard
Assam (1st innings): (overnight 209 for six)
Parag Das c Pawar b Y Pathan 66
Parvez Aziz lbw R Patel 14
Zakaria Zufri run out 22
Vasant Sarvanan lbw Y Pathan 6
R Satish c Mongia b R Patel 2
Chandan Raut b R Patel 5
S Ghosh c Pathan b R Patel 59
S Singh st Mongia b Pawar 48
Arland Konwar c R Parab b Pawar 4
G Dutta not out 15
Z Zaman C Parab b Pawar 1
Extras: (lb-9, nb-22) 31
Total: (all out in 100 overs) 273
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-105, 3-112, 4-119, 5-123, 6-122, 7-233, 8-256, 9-263
Bowling: Rakesh Patel 25-4-82-4, Sekhar Joshi 25-4-80-0, Yusuf Pathan 32-13-52-2, Rajesh Pawar 18-6-50-3.
Baroda (1st innings):
Connor Williams b Das 17
Satyajit Parab c Zufri b Zaman 7
Rishikesh Parab b Zaman 0
Jacob Martin batting 58
Kiron Pawar lbw Singh 43
Rakesh Solanki batting 15
Extras: (b-5, lb-2, w-5, nb-10) 22
Total: (for four wickets in 65 overs) 162
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-15, 3-59, 4-138.
Bowling: Gautam Dutta 13-3-26-0, Zaved Zaman 11-3-43-2, Parag Das 9-5-16-1, Arland Konwar 19-8-36-0, Sukhbinder Singh 10-5-27-1, Parvez Aziz 3-0-7-0.