Manoj Tiwary’s unbeaten 303 (414b, 630m, 30x4, 5x6) helped Bengal post a mammoth 635 for seven (decl.) against Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy Group A match at the Bengal Cricket Academy Ground here on Monday.
Then, the Bengal seamers took over. The visitor finished the second day at 83 for five. It was another eminently forgettable day for them.
Tiwary had resumed at his overnight score of 156 and Bengal on 366 for five. After Shreyan Chakraborty’s departure in the second over of the day – caught at second slip off seamer Ravi Kiran – he was joined by Shahbaz Ahmed, who helped him build another century partnership.
The seventh-wicket stand was worth 108 when Shahbaz (49, 79b, 5x4, 1x6) was run out by a smart piece of fielding from mid-on by Akshath Reddy.
Then, Arnab Nandi joined him in the middle. The unbroken eighth-wicket partnership yielded 159 when the declaration came in the first over after tea. Nandi (65 not out, 83b, 8x4, 1x6) also played some delightful drives.
Bengal declared when Tiwary reached his triple, square-cutting part-time off-spinner Rahul Buddhi for a boundary. He later admitted that he did not know how to celebrate the moment, for he had never scored a triple hundred before.
For the sparse crowd, he had given plenty of moments to celebrate the fours and those sixes over the bowler’s head. He had two lives – the second one, while on 160, was a sitter at slip off the hard-working but hapless Ravi Kiran. But it was a masterly knock nevertheless, as he became only the second Bengal batsman — after Devang Gandhi’s 323 against Assam in 1998-99 — to score a triple ton in the Ranji Trophy.
In the last session, the stage was set for the host’s new-ball duo. Mukesh Kumar (2/29) and Akash Deep (3/46) — unchanged for 20 overs — troubled Hyderabad with hostile pace.
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