Gujarat seized the first innings initiative by dismissing Bengal's top order cheaply, but the hosts fought back with an unbroken sixth-wicket partnership on the second day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match in Kolkata on Monday.
Replying to Gujarat's first innings total of 329, Bengal had half their batting line-up in the pavilion and were tottering at 148 for 5, before Rohan Gavaskar (45 batting) and L R Shukla (50 batting) stemmed the rot to have the match at the Eden Gardens evenly poised.
At close Bengal were 227 for 5.
Resuming at 276/7, Gujarat folded up 53 minutes into the morning session, with skipper Parthiv Patel completing a fine century.
Patel, 97 overnight, departed for 103 (179b, 259m, 10x4) edging pacer Ranadeb Bose (4/65) to Arindam Das at slip.
Ashraf Makda (1) left a little later, but the last wicket partnership put on 27 runs forcing Bengal skipper Deep Dasgupta to take the new ball, which saw Shukla devouring Hitesh Majumdar (7) to bring the Gujarat innings to an end.
Bengal lost wickets at regular intervals with opener Amitava Chakraborty getting run out (13), while Ashraf Makda got Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (24) plumb in front as the hosts were reduced to 74 for 2.
Amit Singh then castled the other opener Arindam Das (37), before pacer Hitesh Majumdar inflicted twin blows by scalping Manoj Tiwary (38) and skipper Deep Dasgupta (6) in quick succession.
Rohan Gavaskar, playing a responsible knock, then retrieved the situation by putting on 116 runs for the sixth wicket with Shukla.
Scorecard
Gujarat (1st innings): (overnight 276 for 7)
N Modi lbw b E Ahmed 40
A Bilakhia lbw b A Dinda 17
N Patel b L R Shukla 16
P Patel c A Das b R Bose 103
T Patel b A Dinda 14
B Thaker c D Dasgupta b R Bose 52
H Watekar c A Chakraborty b R Bose 1
J Makla run out 0
A Singh not out 27
A Makda b R Bose 1
H Majumdar c A Dinda b L R Shukla 7
Extras: (b-13, lb-23, nb-11, w-4) 51
Total: (all out, 89 overs) 329
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-79, 3-108, 4-164, 5-272, 6-274, 7-276, 8-290, 9-302.
Bowling: R Bose 27-6-65-4, A Dinda 17-3-65-2, E Ahmed 10-4-32-1, L R Shukla 14-1-51-2, S Lahiri 13-1-41-0, M Tiwary 4-0-21-0, R Gavaskar 4-0-18-0.
Bengal (1st innings):
A Das b A Singh 37
A Chakraborty run out 13
A Jhunjhunwala lbw b A Makda 24
R Gavaskar batting 45
M Tiwary c P Patel b H Majumdar 38
D Dasgupta c P Patel b H Majumdar 6
L R Shukla batting 50
Extras: (nb-14) 14
Total: (For 5 wkts, 72 overs) 227
Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-74, 3-90, 4-132, 5-148.
Bowling: A Makda 16-2-48-1, H Majumdar 19-5-46-2, A Singh 15-4-60-1, J Makla 12-1-35-0, T Patel 10-0-38-0.