Ranji Trophy: Bengal advance as minister Manoj Tiwary slams century

Tiwary on Friday achieved what no one else did in 88 years of Ranji Trophy: score a hundred while being a sitting minister in a state government. Without an iota of doubt, Tiwary's 136 was the highlight of an inconsequential fifth day's play as Bengal advanced to the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy on the basis of their massive first-innings lead. In between signing files related to his constituency, Tiwary, a sitting minister of sports and youth affairs in the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government, struck 19 fours and two sixes.

The 36-year-old veteran also scored 73 in Bengal's first essay. There were notable contributions once again from other Bengal batters such as Shahbaz Ahmed (46), Anustup Majumdar (38) and Abhishek Porel (34). It is worth recalling that Ahmad, Majumdar and Porel all scored big in Bengal's first innings too.

Throughout the quarterfinal game, which looked one-sided from the onset, with Bengal posting a mammoth 773 for 7 in their first innings with all their top nine batters hitting at least a half century, smashing a 250-year-old record in first class cricket. The only consolation for Jharkhand was that Shahbaz Nadeem bagged 5 for 59. Like Nadeem with the ball, it was Virat Singh who shone with the bat for Jharkhand, scoring an unbeaten 136 in the first innings.

Bengal will take on Madhya Pradesh in the semi-final and have a shot at qualifying for back-to-back Ranji Trophy finals. Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh will face off in the other semi-final. Both matches will kick off in Bengaluru on June 14.