Ashish Hooda scalped four wickets for 39 runs in an impressive pace bowling spell as Haryana came back into their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Bengal on the third and penultimate day here today.
Haryana, led by Virender Sehwag, conceded a 104-run first innings to the visiting team as they were all out for 225 midway in the morning session in reply to Bengal's first innings total of 329 all out.
Overnight batsmen Rohit Sharma (78) and Yuzvendra Chahal (42) were dismissed in quick succession after they shared 105 runs for the ninth wicket as the home side folded their innings.
Sharma and Chahal were instrumental in taking Haryana to a respectable total as the home side were 120 for 8 at one stage before the duo took the total past 200-mark.
With 104-run first innings lead, Bengal found themselves in the drivers' seat but their batsmen came a cropper in their second innings giving Haryana a chance to come back into the match. Bengal ended the day at 146 for 7 for an overall lead of 250 runs with three second innings wickets in hand.
Hooda rocked the Bengal innings early on by dismissing three of the top-four batsmen to reduce the visiting team to 50 for 4. Sudip Chatterji (49) and Pramod Chandila (24) stitched 56 runs for the fifth wicket and that was the biggest Bengal partnership.
In fact, Chatterji was the top scorer as none of the Bengal batsman could score a half century.
Pankaj Shaw and Pragyan Ojha were batting on 19 and one respectively when the stumps were drawn for the day.
Brief Scores:
Bengal: 329 & 146/7 in 71 overs (Sudip Chatterji 49; Ashish Hooda 4/39)
Haryana: 225 all out in 83.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 78, Yuzvendra Chahal 42; Mukesh Kumar 4/53).
