Skipper Mohammed Kaif's unbeaten 82 put Uttar Pradesh tantalisingly close to claiming their maiden Ranji Trophy title after the hosts took an overall 197-run lead against Bengal on the penultimate day of the Elite final at K D Singh Babu stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday.
Uttar Pradesh gained a slender but crucial first innings lead of 14 runs after leg spinner Piyush Chawla (5/83) spun out Bengal for 373 in the morning.
The home team were 183 for five with the talented Suresh Raina (21 batting) giving support to captain Kaif at stumps.
Bengal would have to shut out the rest of the UP lineup and score at a rattling pace to knock off the target to win the Trophy for the third time.
Earlier Bengal resumed their innings at overnight score of 349 for 8 but a fine spell by Chawla and Shalabh Srivastava restricted the visitors just short of their first innings score of 387 runs.
Srivastava took Ranadeb Bose's wicket in his fourth over while Chawla claimed the key wicket of Laxmi Ratan Shukla (66) when he was caught by substitute Ali Hamid at mid-wicket.
Uttar Pradesh lost their opener Praveen Kumar (15) early with the 25 runs on the board but Shivakant Shukla and Kaif, who scored an agressive 92 in the first innings, played responsibly and added 111 runs for the second wicket.
Shivakant (56) made a valuable half-century with the help of six fours before he was trapped leg before by S S Paul.
Kaif, who was dropped by Jhunjhunwala at covers, off seamer Ranadeb Bose before opening his account went on take full advantage of the lifeline.
Kaif stuck to the other end and hit two sixes and five fours during his rearguard effort.
S S Paul and Ranadeb Bose shared one wicket each for the visitors.
Scoreboard
Uttar Pradesh first innings: 387
Bengal first innings: (overnight 349 for 8)
Arindam Das c Amir Khan b Piyush 60
Subhamoy Das b Shalabh 34
A Jhunjhunwala lbw Piyush 22
Sib Sagar Singh b Piyush 23
Rohan Gavaskar lbw Praveen 49
Manoj Tewari lbw Praveen 43
Deep Dasgupta c Amir Khan b Zaidi 20
Laxmi ratan c Ali Hamid b Piyush 66
Sourashish c Shivakant b Piyush 21
Rana Deb Bose c Aamir Khan b Shalabh 11
S S Paul not out 0
Extras: (b-4, lb-6, nb-8, wb-6) 24
Total: (all out in 126.4 overs) 373
Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-102, 3-143, 4-186, 5-203, 6-252, 7-302, 8-331, 9-363
Bowling: Zaidi 26-5-65-1, Praveen Kumar 32-8-124-2, Shalabh Srivastava 33-4-91-2, Piyush Chawla 35.4-8-83-5.
Uttar Pradesh 2nd innings:
Praveen Kumar c Arindam Das b Ranadeb 15
Shivakant Shukla lbw b S S Paul 56
Mohd Kaif not out 82
Suresh Raina not out 21
Extras: (b-4, lb-1, nb-4) 9
Total (for 2 wkts in 70 overs) 183
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-136.
Bowling: S S Paul 22-3-57-1, Ranadeb Bose 6-2-17-1, Sourashish Lahiri 24-2-73-0, Sibsagar Singh 16-5-25-0, Manoj Tewari 2-0-6-0.