Kalyani (WB): Former skipper Manoj Tiwary hit an unbeaten 156 and Shreevats Goswami a combative 95 as Bengal recovered from a shaky start to end the day one of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against Hyderabad at a commanding 366 for five, here Sunday.
Desperate for an outright win to keep their qualifying hopes alive, Bengal, who chose Kalyani over Eden Gardens, found the going tough early on to be reduced to 60 for three inside 15 overs.
Opener Avishek Raman fell for a duck in the fifth ball of the day, edging Ravi Kiran (2/47) behind the stumps after Bengal elected to bat.
Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (12) continued his poor run while debutant Kazi Saifi, who was drafted in after his stupendous show at the U-23 level, could not convert his start to be dismissed for 27. But it was Tiwary who showed a class act as he paced his innings beautifully to lead Bengal’s recovery.
No. 5 Anustup Majumdar (59) also gave a fine support with 86-ball 59 (8×4) as the duo put on 112 runs for the fourth wicket. “I will rate as one of my favourite innings, maybe in top-seven as I have five times double hundred before this. This knock was however very special. It came in a crucial stage,” Tiwary said after the day’s proceedings.
“I was playing well, but a big knock was due. I had back spasm against Kerala. I knew I was doing well in batting and this was due. Given the situation, this is one of my best innings.”
Tiwary counter-attacked the Hyderabad seamers as he scored freely, hitting 15 fours and three sixes in his 212-ball unbeaten knock.
“I had to counter attack knowing that they were playing with only two pacers. I wanted to attack pretty early. They were on the backfoot from start.”
“There was little movement early on. We knew that. But I’m happy to contribute to team’s cause. Anustup and Shreevats played really well and had good partnerships.”
After Majumdar departed, Tiwary found a fine ally in wicketkeeper batsman Shreevats who played brilliantly but missed out on a hundred by just five runs with P Sairam taking a superb low catch.
“We would have been happy to see him score a hundred. Hundred would have been more satisfying but it was an extraordinary catch. Nevertheless he played an important knock.”
Tiwary said he would look to complete a sixth double hundred on Day Two as Bengal are eyeing a 500-plus total.
“We didn’t expect to score so many runs on the first day. We have to score 500-plus if we want to bat once. We want to bat long tomorrow.”
Summarised Scores:
Group A
Bengal 366/5 in 90 overs (Manoj Tiwary 156 batting, Shreevats Goswami 95, Anustup Majumdar 59) vs Hyderabad
In Delhi: Vidarbha 179 in 61.5 overs (Wasim Jaffer 83, Simarjeet Singh 4/39, Ishant Sharma 3/45). Delhi 41/4 (Aditya Thakare 4/14)
At Valsad: Gujarat 277/9 (Bharghav Merai 130, Siddarth Kaul 4/57, Baltej Singh 4/62)
At Thumba: Kerala 90 (Shubham Sharma 5/41). Rajasthan 173/4 (Jalaj Saxena 4/34)
Group B
Uttar Pradesh 281/4 (Aksh Deep Nath 115 not out, Rinku Singh 71 not out; Royston Dias 2-48, Akash Parkar 2-67) vs Mumbai
At Chennai: Railways 76 all out in 39.1 overs (Saurabh Singh 22; R Ashwin 4/26, M Siddharth 4/32) vs Tamil Nadu 236 for 4 in 53 overs (Abhinav Mukund 100, Dinesh Karthik 57 batting, L Suryapprakash (50) TN lead by 160 runs
At Indore: Saurashtra 295/8 (Sheldon Jackson 143 not out; Cheteshwar Pujara 47; Gourav Yadav 4-84)
At Dharamshala: Himachal Pradesh 314/5 (AP Vashisht 86; PS Chopra 56; Swapnil Singh 2-42) vs Baroda
Group C
At Cuttack: Odisha 161 all out in 64.3 overs (Shubhranshu Senapati 42; Aquib Nabi 5/39) vs J&K 38 for 3 in 24 overs
At Ranchi: Uttarakhand 213 for 6 in 50 overs (Saurabh Rawat 66, Tanmay Srivastava 48 batting; Ashish Kumar 3/50, Ajay Yadav 3/53)
At Guwahati: Maharashtra 175 all out in 43.4 overs (Ankit Bawane 75, SS Bachhav 40; Arup Das 4/66, Ranjeet Mali 4/55) vs Assam 75 for 1 in 29 overs (Rishav Das 33 batting).
At Raipur: Tripura 53 for 9 in 18.1 overs (Pankaj Rao 5/11, Veer Pratap Singh 3/53) vs Chhattisgarh 137 for 5 in 50 overs (Shashank Singh 70 batting; AA Sarkar 3/35)
Plate Group
At Povorim: Goa 251; 80.3 overs (Suyash Prabhudessai 90, Darshan Misal 54, Vijesh Prabhudessai 40 not out; Jagjit Singh 5/64, Shresth Nirmohi 3/38). Chandigarh three for no loss; two overs
At Puducherry: Puducherry 209; 46.4 overs (Sagar Trivedi 79 not out; Nabam Tempol 5/61, Akhilesh Sahani 4/77). Arunachal Pradesh 109/3; 33 overs (Samarth Seth 64 batting)
At Sovima: Nagaland 166; 63.5 overs (Imliwati Lemtur 41; Abhijeet Saket 3/19, Ashutosh Aman 3/65). Bihar 115/2; 26 overs (Shasheem Rathour 46 batting)
At Mangaldoi: Meghalaya 235; 67.1 overs (Dwaraka Ravi Teja 90, Puneet Bisth 66, Sanjay Yadav 44; Homendro Kabrambam 3/29, Rex Rajkumar 3/33). Manipur 18/7; 15 overs (Sanjay Yadav 4/12, Abhay Negi 3/1)
At Bhubaneswar: Mizoram 201; 59.1 overs (Taruwar Kohli 113; Iqbal Abdulla 5/78, Ishwar Chaudhary 3/65). Sikkim 107/4 in 28 overs (G Lalbiakvela 3/35)
PTI