Manoj Tiway led by example to score a well-crafted 90 and steer Bengal out of trouble against Andhra on the opening day of the Group-B Ranji Trophy match here on Saturday.
Put in, Bengal was under pressure as it lost three wickets with just 31 on the board. It managed a revival, thanks to the seasoned Tiwary’s responsible knock, to reach 194 for six at stumps.
On a track that looked docile, the Andhra bowlers used the morning conditions well and bowled with discipline.
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The experienced P. Vijay Kumar and young left-arm pacer Y. Prithvi Raj extracted enough movement and used the bounce well to keep openers Abhishek Raman and Abhimanyu Easwaran quiet.
The breakthrough
Prithvi Raj provided the breakthrough as Easwaran played straight to point. Abhishek lost his off stump, shouldering arms to K.V. Sashikanth.
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Sudip Chatterjee saw the ball brushing his gloves to the keeper off Sasikanth, a deceptive bowler who often used his shoulder.
Tiwary and Agniv Pan, who replaced Shreevats Goswami, showed grit to wear down Andhra’s enthusiastic pace quartet as the day progressed.
Cutting and driving
Even though Bengal gathered runs at less than two runs per over, Tiwary remained a picture of composure.
He cut and drove loose deliveries to get 13 of his 14 boundaries and also worked the ball around to keep the scoreboard ticking.
The Bengal skipper cut Girinath twice to the ropes in an over to earn his fifty before tea.
Agniv (39), who was troubled by Prithvi Raj’s bouncers, and Tiwary added 123 runs for the fourth wicket and steadied Bengal’s innings.
Agniv, who was dropped on 29, departed to the first ball after tea. Again it was a rising delivery from Prithvi Raj, who got it right after wasting a lot of energy.
Tiwary could not get his hundred as he edged Vijay Kumar to Prashanth in the slips.
“Their bowlers benefited from the moisture on the surface. The key was to leave the good deliveries,” said Tiwary.
The scores:
Bengal: Abhishek Raman b Sashikanth 6, Abhimanyu Easwaran c Shoaib b Prithvi Raj 2, Sudip Chatterjee c Bharat b Sashikanth 8, Manoj Tiwary c Prashanth b Vijay Kumar 90, Agniv Pan c Bharat b Prithvi Raj 39, Writtick Chatterjee (batting) 27, Shahbaz Ahmed c Bhui b Shoaib 11, Pradipta Pramanik (batting) 2; Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-1, w-2): 9; Total (for six wkts. in 78 overs): 194.
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-15, 3-31, 4-144, 5-170, 6-191.
Andhra bowling: Vijay Kumar 17-7-27-1, Prithvi Raj 18-5-41-2, Shoaib 14-3-38-1, Sashikanth17-4-37-2, Girinath 11-1-43-0, Saikrishna 1-0-2-0 .