Cuttack, Feb 25 (PTI) Skipper Ravi Teja and tailender Tanay Thyagarajan struck resolute fifties as Hyderabad fought to stay afloat in their Ranji Trophy group B match against Bengal by reducing the rival team"s first innings lead to just 37 before being bowled out for 205 here on Friday. At close on day two, Bengal had built on it slightly for an overall lead of 53 with nine wickets intact after they bundled out Hyderabad. Fresh from grabbing 5/71 in Bengal"s first innings, Thyagarajan scored a valiant 103-ball 52 batting at No 9, while skipper Teja remained unbeaten on 81 from 196 balls to somewhat rescue Hyderabad. Teja, who claimed 3/48 in Bengal"s 242 all out on day one, steadied Hyderabad after they were 70/7. He stitched a 109-run eighth wicket partnership with Thyagarajan. Teja smashed two sixes and six fours in his 196-ball knock, while Thyagarajan slammed seven fours as Bengal struggled to break the partnership. Bengal deputy sports minister Manoj Tiwary, who returned to action after his foray into politics, finally broke the partnership with his part-time spin. Thyagarajan took an edge to be caught by Abhishek Porel behind the stumps and it was just a matter of time before Hyderabad folded for 205 in 80 overs. Earlier, Bengal medium pacer Mukesh Kumar was on song and raced to 4/49 as Hyderabad struggled after resuming the day on 15/2. "We were trying to get the rest after reducing Hyderabad to 70/7 but the wicket became much easier to bat on as the game progressed. We had to work hard to get wickets, while the pitch became flat," Mukesh Kumar said after the end of day"s play. "This wicket is different from the last match, we knew things would get hard for us as the game progressed so our (pacers") plan was to get as many wickets we can in earlier in the day." Bengal, in their second essay, lost opener Sudip Gharami (0) of the third ball after he was castled by Rakshann Reddi. Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran was unbeaten on 10 along with Ritwik Roy Chowdhury (3) at stumps on day two. "Our batters will have to set a good total, the wicket will become difficult for bowlers in the next two days, we will give our best to win this," Mukesh added. Brief Scores: ========= At Barabati Stadium: Bengal 242 and 16/1; 8 overs. Hyderabad 205; 80 overs (T Ravi Teja 81 not out, Tanay Thyagarajan 52; Mukesh Kumar 4/49). Match to continue. At Vikas Cricket Ground: Chandigarh 168. Baroda 398/7; 107 overs (Vishnu Solanki 103 batting, Jyotsnil Singh 96, Pratyush Kumar 43). Match to continue. PTI TAP PM PM PM