Tiwari help Bengal take adv against Hyderabad

Kolkata, Nov 4 (UNI) Manoj Tiwari wielded his willow for yet another century with a quick unbeaten 147 to give Bengal the advantage on day one of the Ranji Trophy opener against Hyderabad and remind the selectors that he was in fray.

He carried on from where he had left last season and scored an unbeaten 147, coming in to bat with Bengal's innings trickly poised at 67 for 2.

Right from the start, Tiwari attacked and capitalised on an inexperienced Hyderabad attack.

His 248 minute long essay with 14 boundaries and two sixes will definately send across a message to the national selectors. Tiwari was selected for India's tour to Bangladesh, but returned emepty handed with a dislocated shoulder and underwent an operation in England which kept him out of the field for three months.

But he came back with a bang scoring 65 runs for India Green during their Challenger Trophy. After today's knock he must have for once and all dismissed the theory that he is yet to recover fully.

Tiwari walked to the crease after the fall of Abhisekh Chakroborty, after skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla won the toss and elected to bat. The promising right hander was severe on the bowlers and unleashed a wide array of shots, scoring at a very brisk rate.

He reached his fifty in 62 balls. He came down particularly hard on rookie spinner Lalit Mohan and thrashed him all over the park.

His massive hit over the long-on was a treat to watch. Tiwari hit one more over-boundary off Pragyan Ojha.

He shared a valuable 98 run partnership with comeback Safi Ahmed for the fourth wicket, brought bengal back into the match. Safi, who looked ill at ease in the crease, was out for 14 to Amol Shinde, who also accounted for new Bengal skipper L R Shukla for a first ball duck.

With stumps approaching, Tiwari went into a shell, scoring only 36 off the next 102 balls. Debutant wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, though, picked up the scoring rate from the other end and finished unbeaten on 34 off 53 balls. Saha's was the second-highest contribution in the Bengal innings.

Earlier, in the day Hyderabad's new ball bowlers MP Arjun and SM Shoiab were way off target and helped Bengal openers Abhijit Chakroborty and Arindam Das to settle down. The two were only too happy to leave the balls outside their off stump and added vital 45 runs for the first wicket, before Das failed to guile of Ojha.

Sorecard: Bengal (1st Innings) Batsman Runs AP Chakrabarty c R Teaj b P Ojha 25 AS Das lbw b L Mohan 25 AP Majumder c H Ahmed b MP Arjun 25 MK Tiwary not out 147 S Ahmed c D Manohar b A Shinde 14 LR Shukla c A Pai b Ashinde 0 WP Saha+ not out 34 Extras 2nb Ow 12 lb 5b Open 19 Penalties awarded following innings 0 Total 289 for 5 Bowler O M R W MP Arjun 9.0 2 24 1 SM Shoaib 11.0 3 22 0 P Ojha 33.0 10 100 1 L Mohan 25.0 3 71 1 A Shinde 16.0 1 53 2 R Teja 10 0 2 0 UNI