Favourites Bengal picked up the remaining four Services wickets within 90 minutes to grab three points by virtue of their 127-run first innings lead in their fifth round Ranji Trophy encounter here today.
Chasing Bengal's first innings total of 431, Services were all out for 304 in in 120.5 overs as speedster Ashoke Dinda (3/97 in 32 overs) and off-break bowler Sourashish Lahiri (3/69) were successful bowlers.
Left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena (2/54 in 30 overs) also did a good job by removing Soumya Ranjan Swain (56) early in the morning with an armer that he padded up at the Airforce Ground in Palam.
Bengal now have 11 points from five games and will be desperate for an outright win in their next game against the Railways which will be followed by two heavyweight teams in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Sourashish Lahiri was adjudged man-of-the-match by the on-field umpires and match referee Sanjay Patil and will get a financial reward of Rs 25,000.
The match as a contest was over when Services were all out within 19.5 overs in the day. Once Irfan Khan (0) was run out after a mix-up, Services were reduced to 267 for eight and still required 15 runs to avoid follow-on. It was Suraj Yadav (42 no), who batted with a twisted ankle helped Services to get past the 282-run mark required to avoid follow-on.
In an inconsequential second innings, Bengal scored 126 for three with veteran Subhamoy Das (54) and Arindam Das (50) helping themselves to half-centuries.
The match was called off after the first mandatory over with out-of-form batsmen Anushtup Majumdar (12 no, 35 balls) and Sandipan Das (5, 27 balls) batting out 10 overs without showing any positive intent making it unbearable for the handful who were present at the ground.
