Tiwary stakes claim for crucial No.6 spot

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Batting at No.6 and fighting for the same spot in the Indian team in what is a three-way tie, Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary rose to the occasion scoring a fine 93 to guide India ‘A’ to an impressive 369/9 against England at the end of the opening day of the first warm-up match here at the Brabourne Stadium.

On a day when no Indian batsmen could get to triple figures despite strong starts, Abhinav Mukund (73) and comeback hero Yuvraj Singh (59) looked impressive in the middle.

India ‘A’ skipper Suresh Raina, who chose to bat first after winning the toss to give ample opportunity to his batters, was dismissed cheaply for 20 by a less than threatening Samit Patil.

The visitors were pushed on to the back foot inside the first hour of play when new ball bowler Steve Finn limped out after pulling a muscle.

However, they still managed to make inroads with regular wickets.

After a shaky start, opener Mukund grew in confidence and dealt in boundaries. He brought up his fifty in just 57 balls with the help of 12 boundaries.

However, a mistimed flick off off-spinner Swann cut short his enterprising stay in the middle at the stroke of lunch.

In the post lunch session, Yuvraj showed a fine mix of defence and aggression after being dropped first ball by Patel at square-leg.

He looked at ease and smashed seven boundaries and three sixes to bring up his fifty in front of the national selectors. After hitting his fourth six towards wide of long-on off Swann, Yuvraj charged down the track again but missed the line and was stumped.

Tiwary played a patient, sensible knock and picked his runs in singles and brought up his fifty in 91 balls. He negotiated the new ball too but was done in by a well-aimed Yorker by Bresnan.

The English pacer removed Dinda immediately off the next ball but Awana averted the hat-trick ball and negotiated the remaining overs in the company of Vinay Kumar, who was not out on 25.

SCOREBOARD India `A': A. Mukund c Bell b Swann 73, M. Vijay (run out) 7, A. Rahane c Pietersen b Bresnan 4, Yuvraj Singh st Prior b Swann 59, S. Raina c Bell b Patel 20, M. Tiwary b Bresnan 93, W .Saha lbw Anderson 20, I. Pathan lbw Swann 46, R. Vinay Kumar (not out) 25, A. Dinda b Bresnan 0, P. Awana (not out) 11. Extras: (B-1, LB-9, W-1) 11.
Total (for 9 wkts, 90 overs) 369 FoW: 1-25, 2-57, 3-113, 4-140, 5-168, 6-190, 7-300, 8-347, 9-347 Bowling: J. Anderson 17-4-65 -1, S.
Finn 4-1-22-0, T. Bresnan 20-6 -59 -3, J. Trott 5-0-21-0, G. Swann 23-6-90-3, S. Patel 20-4-95-1, K. Pietersen 1-0-70