Bengal batter Manoj Tiwari continued his rich vein of form in the ongoing Ranji Trophy as he smashed his second successive century on Wednesday. Tiwari, who had scored 136 in the quarterfinals against Jharkhand, also reached triple figures in the ongoing semi-final clash against Madhya Pradesh. Tiwari scored a fine 102 as Bengal posted 273 in the first innings. After reaching triple figures, Tiwari raised his bat in joy and acknowledged the applause from the Bengal dressing room. Not only that, Tiwari had also held out a handwritten note with a heartwarming message for his wife and children.
Tiwary, who is also the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports in West Bengal, bailed Bengal out from a sticky position to score his second successive century in India's premier domestic competition. He had also scored a century in the quarter final in Jharkhand.
Apart from his heroics with the bat, what stole the show was his gesture for his family after he scored the century. Tiwary held aloft a handwritten note which had the name of his wife and other family members along with a heart sign.
After restricting MP to 341 in the first innings, Bengal lost half its side for just 54 runs. It was at this juncture that Tiwary (102) along with Shahbaz Ahmed (116) put their heads down and produced a rearguard for the ages as they stitched together a 183-run stand which eventually helped Bengal concede a lead of less than 100 runs.
Madhya Pradesh though remain in the driver's seat in the match as they have now increased their lead to more than 200 runs on Day 3.
Tiwary played 12 ODIs and 3 T20Is for India and has scored more than 9000 runs in first-class cricket.