Maharashtra batsman Hrishikesh Kanitkar's unbeaten 151 went in vain as Bengal finished with two points by virtue of a first innings lead in their Ranji Trophy elite group B clash in Kolkata on Thursday.

Riding on Kanitkar's ton, Maharashtra declared their second innings closed at 308 for 4, before Bengal reached 13 for no loss on the fourth and last day at the Eden Gardens.

Bengal had earlier taken a 110-run lead in the first innings when they scored 325 in reply to Maharashtra's first innings total of 215.

After four games, Bengal now have eight points while Maharashtra remain on five.

Resuming at the overnight score of 78 for 1, Maharashtra lost opener Dheeraj Jadhav (45) after he had put on 74 runs for the second wicket in the company of Kanitkar, as the visitors were reduced to 111 for 2.

Kanitkar and Yogesh Takawale (75) then stitched together a 184-run stand for the third wicket in 215 minutes.

Kanitkar, who completed his hundred of 204 balls in 303 minutes, played some scintillating shots on both sides of the field.

Takawale (146b, 9x4) was finally devoured by  young pacer Sourav Sarkar, who had taken four wickets in the first innings.

Kanitkar (266b, 21x4) was till going strong in the middle when skipper Sairaj Bahutule declared the innings.

Scorecard

Maharashtra 1st innings: 215 all out

Bengal 1st innings: 325 all out

Maharashtra 2nd innings (78/1 overnight)
M Nigade c Jhunjhunwala b Lahiri 26
D Jadhav b S Lahiri 45
H Kanitkar not out 151
Y Takawale c A Das b S Sarkar 75
P Desai c sub (H K Mondal) b A Dinda 4
S Satbhai not out 1
Extras (b-2, nb-4) 6

Total (for 4 wkts decl, 106 overs) 308

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-111, 3-295, 4-302

Bowling: R Bose 20-9-40-0, S Sarkar 16-4-50-1, A Dinda 21-5-58-1, L R Shukla 3-1-3-0, S Lahiri 35-7-113-2, M Tiwari 11-0-42-0

Bengal 2nd innings
A Das not out 6
A Chakrabarty not out 5

Extras (b-1, nb-1) 2

Total (for no loss, 13 overs) 13

Bowling: S Sriram 5-2-4-0, P Desai 6-2-7-0, D Jhadav 2-1-1-0.