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| Sourav Ganguly pulls en route to his 50 against Delhi, at the Eden, on Thursday. A Telegraph picture |
Calcutta: Manoj Tiwary is talking… Well, with his bat. And on Friday, at Eden Gardens, on the last day of the Ranji Trophy match against Delhi, Bengal will hope Manoj continues from where he left off (163 batting).
The relegation-threatened hosts need another 35 runs for the vital first-innings lead as they battle to beat the drop. They have three wickets in hand but it’s Manoj who holds the key. If he stays and help his team to get those 35 runs then it will be quite an achievement. After all, the three points that Bengal will get for the first-innings lead will give a little boost to their fortunes.
On Thursday, the right-handed batsman scored his third consecutive first class century and took Bengal to 358 for eight wickets. Veer Pratap Singh (0 batting) is giving him company. Manoj faced 321 balls and hit 22 boundaries during his 450-minute stay at the crease.
The other Bengal batsman — Sourav Ganguly (50), Laxmi Ratan Shukla (31) and Subhamoy Das (36) — got a start but could not convert those into big scores as they fell playing rash shots. For Delhi, pacer Pradeep Sangwan took four wickets.
It was a classic innings from Manoj. Only on Sunday, MA Chidambaram Stadium saw Manoj getting his maiden ODI hundred and Thursday in front of the near-empty Eden Gardens, Manoj was there again, reaching the three-figure mark.
Manoj never looked to be in discomfort while adjusting to the four-day format. His hunger for runs seems endless this season. And Bengal are, obviously, not complaining.
Bengal started with a lot of alacrity. After being dropped on 19 by Shikhar Dhawan at second slip, Sourav looked fluent during his 44-ball innings. He added 39 runs to his overnight score as he hit eight boundaries. He pulled Sangwan for two boundaries in an over and Bengal hoped that he will get his second Ranji century of the season. But Sangwan had the last laugh as Sourav gave an easy catch to Yogesh Nagar at gully after needlessly chasing a wide delivery.
He was devastated but Manoj took over the ‘reins’ from the skipper. His innings was of maturity and elegance. His exquisite drives were delightful while his copybook pulls and cuts stamped his authority over the Delhi bowlers.
Manoj was graceful in the first session. He brought up his fifty with a boundary to the third-man region.
He also made good use of his feet to hit spinner Manoj Chauhan through the covers as Bengal went into lunch with 203 for five on board.
Manoj batted more aggressively in the afternoon session. He found the gaps quite easily as he hit nine boundaries. But his partner Shukla was shaky from the start. Once Sangwan bowled him off a no-ball and then Ankur Julka dropped him at the slips.
Shukla could not make the most of those chances as he played an irresponsible shot off Awana. He miscued a pull and Unmukt Chand ran backwards from a wide square leg position to take the catch.
Manoj, meanwhile, flicked one on the leg side to reach his three-figure mark.
His partner Subhamoy, who made a comeback to the side after four years, did not sit back at the crease and looked to play his shots. He struck six boundaries before being castled by Sangwan just before tea.
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