Sourav Ganguly and Murtaza Lodhgar at the Jadavpur University ground in Salt Lake on Monday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: When Sourav Ganguly (27) departed with Bengal?s score reading 301 for seven, no one had thought the script will unfold in such a dramatic fashion in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group match against Karnataka on Monday.

However, a six-wicket haul by Murtaza Lodhgar turned the tide in Bengal?s favour, earning them a handsome 136-run first innings lead after the hosts finished their innings on 315 on Day II.

Those who went to the Jadavpur University?s Salt Lake campus ground expecting a big score from Sourav were disappointed as the Team India skipper fell to a R. Vinay Kumar delivery outside the off stump.

He became Vinay Kumar?s second victim in the innings. Sourav was there for 36 minutes in which he showed his class only once, driving Vinay Kumar through the covers for four.

After Sourav?s dismissal, it was only touch and go for Bengal tailenders as the last three wickets added just 14 runs to the score.

Sourashish Lahiri remained unbeaten on 39. The hosts innings folded up in 73 minutes.

The score didn?t seem such a huge ask for Karnataka hands when openers J. Arun Kumar and Rowland Barrington went out into the middle.

But Ranadeb Bose struck in the very second over when he induced Rowland (0) to snick one away going delivery to Deep Dasgupta behind the stumps.

Captain Arun Kumar and S. Somasunder added 59 runs for the second wicket, the biggest for the visitors.

Arun Kumar (25) was shown the door by Sanjib Sanyal, who bowled well on a flat batting track. Sanyal used his intellect and hit the seam hard. That actually worked well for him and the hosts.

Sourashish and Ranadeb then picked up S. Somasunder (48)and Shyam Ponnappa in quick succession to leave Karnataka on 115 for four.

It was then time for Murtaza to join the action. The left-arm spinner grabbed the last six wickets of Tilak Naidu, Stuart Binny, Sunil Joshi, Dodda Ganesh, Vinay Kumar and Udit Patel conceding just 28 in his spell of 15.1 ov-ers.

Before Murtaza took over, a Shib Shankar Paul delivery seemed to take a faint edge off Shyam Ponnappa before going to Deep?s gloves.

Bengal players kept on appealing but the umpire B.A. Jamula was unmoved. Instead, he and his colleague Amish Saheba cautioned captain Rohan Gavaskar for over appealing.

Former India spinner Joshi made his intentions pretty clear once he came into the crease. He cleared the rope once and hit one four, both off Murtaza. But the left-armer had the last laugh. The day?s other six was hit by Ponnappa off Sourasish.

The debacle set in after tea when Murtaza started getting that additional bounce which a spinner would love to. With three to four close-in fielders, Rohan also attacked the batsmen.

Team India skipper was also seen playing his part and guiding Rohan to bring the visitors downfall.

The Bengal captain also took a brilliant catch to dismiss Joshi. Arindam Das took a blinder at silly point to dismiss Ganesh.

Veteran Vijay Bharadwaj remained unbeaten on 25.

With this edge, Bengal will look for the best score in the least time on Day III and try and pack Karanataka off quickly.