Stats: Manoj Tiwary scores his maiden triple century in first-class cricket

Manoj Tiwary had an interesting start to the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season with four scores of 35+ across five innings but none of them was greater than 51. The 6th round match against Hyderabad that began on Sunday was a crucial one for Bengal who lost their last game against Vidarbha by 9 wickets. Tiwary stepped up for the need by smashing a triple century as he finished unbeaten on 303 off 414 deliveries with 30 fours and five maximums. All these runs he scored after going in to bat in the 6th over with home side struggling at 22/2.

He shared as many as four 100-run stands during this innings with the biggest of them coming for the 8th wicket. Manoj shared an unbeaten 159-run stand with Arnab Nandi as Bengal posted a huge total of 635/7 in their first innings. The former was stranded at 298 at the Tea break on the 2nd day but got to the milestone on the 4th ball of the final session. Thus, Manoj Tiwary registered his maiden first-class triple century and also became only the 2nd player with an FC 300 for Bengal.

The first triple ton for Bengal was recorded by Devang Gandhi as he scored 323 against Assam in the 1998/99 Ranji Trophy. Manoj was also only the 2nd player to score a triple ton over Hyderabad team. Sanjay Manjrekar smashed 377 against Hyderabad during the 1990/91 season while playing for Bombay. Manoj Tiwary was 34 years and 67 days old as on Monday which now makes him the 2nd oldest player to score a triple century in Ranji Trophy.

He is also the 2nd oldest with a triple ton in a first-class match on Indian soil. The record is held by Raman Lamba who scored 312 against Himachal Pradesh in 1994/5 by reaching the 300-run mark on the 3rd of the match which coincided with his 35th birthday. Wasim Jaffer came close to topping this list when he scored 286 in the 2018-19 Irani Cup after turning 40.

(Stats as on January 20, 2020)

(Ages mentioned in the list as on the day of scoring the 300th run of the innings)