ALUR (Karnataka): Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran's unbeaten 52 after Shahbaz Ahmed's superb all-round show gave Bengal a glimmer of hope even as Madhya Pradesh firmly held the upper hand on the penultimate day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final on Friday.
On a difficult fourth day pitch, the India A batter looked flawless and milked the field at ease, slamming six fours in his 104-ball knock as Bengal were precariously placed at 96 for 4, needing another 254 runs to reach the stiff winning target of 350.