Sourav Ganguly and Arindam Das during their unbeaten partnership at the Eden on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: When it comes to mind games no one can match Sourav Ganguly.

At exactly 3:09pm, the former India captain walked up to the square leg umpire NR Seetaram Prabhu and appealed for light. It was the 36th over of the Bengal innings and Yusuf Pathan was bowling his off-breaks.

Within a minute the umpires offered light to the batsmen. Ganguly, who was batting on 15 (3x4) with Arindam Das on 52 (9x4), was only too happy to get back to the dressing room with Bengal’s scorecard reading 102 for three at stumps on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Super League tie against Baroda at Eden Gardens.

The hosts require another 206 runs to surpass Baroda’s first innings score of 307 and bag three crucial points by virtue of first innings lead.

It will be the battle between Ganguly’s experience and Irfan Pathan’s guile that will decide the outcome of this match, which is unlikely to have an outright result with more than 30 overs lost in the first two days of play.

The decision to call off play didn’t go down too well with Connor Williams, who felt that the game could have continued in fading light as a spinner was in operation. With Irfan (two for 43) getting the ball to swing both ways, the visitors would have been happy to get another wicket before close of play.

The highlight of the Bengal innings was Das’s knock. Normally known for his dour approach, he gave a different account of himself during an undefeated 162-minute effort.

Save a dropped chance by Jacob Martin in the slips off Firdous Bhaja’s bowling when he was on 35, none of the Baroda bowlers, Irfan included, seemed to bother him. Whenever Irfan got the ball to drift on to his pads, he drove through the on-side.

When left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh (one for 17) was introduced, Das used his feet to good effect. He reached his 15th first-class half-century in Singh’s fourth over with a couple of boundaries.

The Bengal innings started on a disastrous note with senior-pro Deep Dasgupta (2) given leg before in Irfan’s second over. The ball darted back to hit Dasgupta above the knee-roll and it looked a debatable decision.

Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (16) saw his middle-stump knocked by an Irfan in-swinger. Arindam Ghosh (10) played a rank bad shot, to be caught at mid-on by Irfan off Singh, with an over left for tea.

Ganguly’s 42-minute stay at the crease was an eventful one. He hit three boundaries. A square-cut off Singh, a signature cover drive (easily the best shot of the day) and a push through point and gully off Irfan. However, when he was on 10, he survived a close leg before appeal, shouldering arms to an Irfan delivery.

If he can get another 52 runs, Ganguly will reach a personal milestone of 15,000 first-class runs.

Earlier, Bengal dismissed Baroda with an over left for lunch but not before the tail wagged considerably. With Irfan (43) out in the second over of the day and Pinal Shah (63) back in the hut, it was Singh (43 ..) who used the long handle to good effect as Baroda crossed the 300-run mark.