INTRO: With the selectors set to announce the World Cup probables later this week, skipper puts his hand up by cracking a brilliant 151 as East thump North to enter Deodhar Trophy final
When Manoj Tiwary pushed a Yuvraj Singh delivery to mid-off for a single to reach his third List A hundred at the Wankhede on Sunday, the 2011 World Cup hero walked across to congratulate the batsman. It was a nice gesture from the North Zone captain, indicating just how much this knock would mean to the talented but unlucky batsman from Bengal.
It was only fitting that Singh, now out of favour with the national selectors, appreciated his East Zone counterpart's efforts on the day. As has always been the case, Tiwary has done what's within him, leaving the rest to the selectors and providence.
Tiwary's commanding 151 (121 balls, 15x4, 4x6) helped East post a challenging 273/8 after Singh, standing in as skipper for the indisposed Harbhajan Singh, chose to field. That effort, complemented by some disciplined bowling, helped East restrict North to 221. The result: a 52-run victory as well as a place in Wednesday's final.
Tiwary came within eight runs of overhauling the Deodhar Trophy record for the highest individual score. Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, the former left-handed opener from Tamil Nadu, had scored 158 for South against Central in March 2006. Tiwary's has been one of the sad stories of Indian cricket. Despite scoring at almost every available opportunity, he has either been hit by injuries or been unlucky not to get that opportunity in the Indian team. Barring a few, that is.
On Sunday, Tiwary was easily the best batsman in sight. With scores of 56, 130 and 57 in his last three innings, he did not need time to settle in. Even as North spinner Parvez Rasool extracted good turn in his first over to trouble left-handed opener Shreevats Goswami, the experienced Tiwary showed the way to counter the slow bowler by stepping out and depositing him for a straight six and a cover-driven four off successive deliveries. These initial strokes gave enough indication of what was to follow from for the next two-and-a-half hours.
Tiwary from brilliant from the moment he walked in to bat in the 12th over. And he never put a foot wrong till the last, when an extravagant shot ended his innings. Pacing his innings and picking up boundaries at will, there was no stopping Tiwary. He batted with so much ease that it did not make much of a difference when he lost partners at regular intervals.
The Deodhar Trophy record was his for the taking. Sivaramakrishnan, currently coaching Tamil Nadu Under-23, spoke to dna from Vadodara. "I don't see my record lasting too long," the 32-year-old said. "Tiwary is a fine player. No doubt about that. He is an asset to any team in the shorter format. Unfortunately, he has been plagued by injuries at very crucial junctures of his career," he added.
Unlike in his case, Sivaramakrishnan felt that Tiwary's efforts did not go unrecognised. He said that had the selectors watched his knock eight years ago, he may have played at the highest level. "It was a great day where everything went off very well. I was timing the ball beautifully and everything was in my zone," Sivaramakrishnan recalled. Unfortunately for him, on the same day, a young Rohit Sharma scored 142* in Udaipur against North. The rest is history.
When North got down to chasing 274, the asking rate only rose after Ashok Dinda and Veer Pratap Singh bowled some tight overs early. Singh made only four. He paid the price for chasing a wide delivery bowled by harmless medium-pacer Biplab Samantray, the resultant edge landing into Goswami's gloves. By now, North had their backs to the wall. Mandeep Singh (40, 62 balls, 4x4) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (83, 91 balls, 10x4, 1x6) tried their best but fell short.
guru.krishnan@dnaindia.net
Brief Scores: East Zone 273/8 in 50 overs (S Goswami 43, M Tiwary 151; S Sharma 3/49, R Dhawan 2/53) beat North Zone 221 in 47.1 overs (M Singh 40, GS Mann 83, R Dhawan 38; A Dinda 2/59, B Samantray 2/51, S Lahiri 3/41) by 52 runs
PLAYING TODAY (SEMIFINAL): West Zone vs South Zone, 9:00 am, Live on Star Sports 4
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