Bengal took control of the Ranji Trophy Super league tie against Maharashtra, scoring 199 for 5 on Tuesday, in reply to the hosts' 215, at the Eden Gardens.
Bengal reached the healthy total with good starts from Arindam Das (37), Abhishek Jhunjhunwala(41) and Amitava Chakraborty (27).
Anupam Sanclecha claimed three wickets for 76 runs.
At the end of day 2, Deep Dasgupta was unbeaten on 10 and Rohan Gavaskar on 17.
Almost assured of overhauling the Maharashtra total, being only 16 runs behind with five wickets in hand, Bengal will go for an outright victory.
Earlier, Ranadeb Bose ran through the lower order to finish with figures of five for 60 runs.
S Sriram remained unbeatern on 68 as he ran out of partners. Sanlecha delayed the inevitable with a brisk 26 runs.
Scorecard
Maharashtra (1st innings):
M Nigde lbw b Sarkar 9
D Jadhav c Tiwary b Sarkar 0
H Kanitkar b Bose 19
Y Takawale c Chakraborty b Dinda 9
S Sriram not out 68
Pratik Desai c Tiwary b Bose 0
S Bahutule c Chakraborty b Sarkar 13
S Satbhai lbw b Sarkar 48
A Sanclecha lbw b Bose 26
S Burkul c Dasgupta b Bose 0
Prashan Bhoir b Bose 0
Extras: (b 12, lb 7, w 2, nb 2) 23
Total: (all out; 101 overs; 446 mins) 215
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-9, 3-36, 4-42, 5-42, 6-71, 7-170, 8-203, 9-207, 10-215.
Bowling: R Bose 31-11-60-5, S Sarkar 26-10-71-4, A Dinda 19-7-31-1, L Shukla 9-5-8-0, S Lahiri 14-2-26-0, M Tiwary 2-2-0-0.
Bengal (1st innings):
Arindam Das c Satbhai b Sanclecha 37
A Chakraborty c Satbhai b Burkul 27
A Jhunjhunwala c Jadhav b Sanclecha 41
M Tiwary c Satbhai b Prashan Bhoir 26
L Shukla lbw b Sanclecha 18
D Dasgupta not out 10
R Gavaskar not out 17.
Extras: (b 1, lb 3, w 10, nb 9) 23
Total: (5 wickets; 65 overs) 199
To bat: SS Lahiri, RR Bose, A Dinda, SS Sarkar
Fall of wickets: 1-78, 2-78, 3-117, 4-162, 5-171.
Bowling: A Sanclecha 27-8-76-3, Prashan Bhoir 15-3-49-1, S Burkul 13-1-48-1, S Bahutule 10-4-22-0.