Calcutta/Chennai: Captain Manoj Tiwary hit a scintillating unbeaten hundred (116 not out off 94 balls) as Bengal registered a thumping eight-wicket win over Goa at the Murugappa ground in Chennai.
Bengal thus notched up their second consecutive victory in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. Losing yet another toss, Bengal were given a modest target of 214 to chase after bowlers impressed again by restricting Goa to 213/9. Kanishk Seth, making his List A debut, was the pick of the Bengal bowlers, taking three wickets for 50 off his 10 overs while spearhead Ashok Dinda conceded only 22 off his quota.
Off-spinner Amir Ghani struck twice, while Sayan Ghosh and Pragyan Ojha finished with a wicket each.
In reply, Bengal lost in-form opener Sreevats Goswami early and No.3 Sudip Chatterjee too was dismissed with only 45 runs on board in the 11th over. But once he got his eye in, there was no let up from Manoj.
Hitting 13 fours and three sixes, the skipper stitched an unbroken third-wicket stand of 169 with the other opener Abhimanyu Easwaran (68 not out) as Bengal romped home with 85 balls to spare. Young Abhimanyu held one end up, concentrating mainly on rotating the strike. He hit five boundaries in all.
Pleased after another comprehensive win for his side, Manoj agreed that he's peaking at the right time. "Of course, I do believe I'm delivering consistently as that's what is expected of me.
"It always feels nice when you get a big one and see your team through. Besides, the good thing is that I'm feeling good about my batting. I've been trying very hard and I do get to see that I'm being consistent. At the start of the season, I did get off to pretty good starts in quite a few matches. But I wasn't able to convert them into big knocks... Had got out in the 90s... But there too, one needs to consider that the conditions we played in weren't very easy.
"Anyway, it's not the time to look behind. We have been doing well over the last few weeks, so we just need to keep the good work going," Manoj said from Chennai.
He also lauded the bowlers for not erring in line. "Look, we lost the toss once again. But just as the bowlers did in the previous game, they maintained an excellent line and length to check the opposition."
