BANGALORE: But for two bizarre dismissals, Bengal might well have been right on top. Yet, a patient, strokefilled and well spaced out century by Manoj Tiwary saw them coast to a fighting 292 for 5 at the end of Day One in their Ranji Trophy cricket quarterfinal against Tamil Nadu on Friday.
Skipper Laxmi Rattan Shukla called right and on a docile wicket, naturally chose to bat first. But two entirely unfortunate wickets almost negated that advantage after a slow start. In the end, Manoj Tiwary, wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha (53) and Dibyendu Chakrabarty (57) were involved in useful partnerships to lift Bengal to respectable shores.
On an unhelpful wicket as this, no total could be big enough. Yet the promoted Bengal lads showed enough fighting qualities to contain the Tamil Nadu bowlers who toiled for the five wickets that they grabbed in all for the day. Openers Arindam Das and Rohan Banerjee picked up the singles and twos with deft deflections and nudges as they sized up the bowling.
But seamer Ganapathy trapped him in front with a slower one that came in and hit the batsman a little higher on the pads but there was no doubt about the decision. Wriddhiman Saha then walked in and seemed confident and aggressive too.
After a couple of strokes with the meat of the bat, Saha drove hard and back down the track as Amarnath overpitched a bit.
Rohan had already begun his run assuming that the ball would beat the bowler. But Amarnath stretched his hand out, it struck his fingers and dislodged the bails before Rohan could regain his crease.
Saha and Manoj Tiwary then were involved in a fruitful partnership of 79 runs. Saha once tried to sweep Ganapathy, missed the line and was trapped leg before, the ball hitting him low on the pads. As if that shock wasn’t enough, skipper Laxmi Rattan Shukla joined Tiwary who by then was driving and hooking with confidence.
After making just one, Shukla tried to pull Ashwin towards square leg. It hit Abhinav Mukund stationed at short square and lobbed back to wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik who gloved it gleefully as Shukla began his walk back dejectedly.
Tiwary showed his class as he drove and pulled as the bowlers strayed on either side. With the TN fielders in close fielding, Tiwary used his feet effectively to loft the spinners into vacant spots. He scored an unbeaten 134 runs with 19 boundaries, in a stay of 179 minutes.
Dibyendu was out caught by a diving C. Suresh as he tried to clout Ashwin but then Bengal lost no more wickets as Tiwary and Avik Chowdhury remained unseparated.
Brief scores: Bengal 292-5 ( W Saha 53, M Tiwary 134 n.o., D Chakrabarty 57, C Ganapathy 2-29, R Ashwin 2-85) vs TN
