Bengal vs MP, Ranji Trophy 2021-22, 1st semi-final

Fifty-four for five.

You saw him Bowl the carrom ball, the Slider, his wristspin, googly and Quicker one – left-arm everything – in his country IPL season for Mumbai Indians. In red-ball cricket, he sticks to his left-arm Orthodox, and boy, he bowls them with Immaculate control. In his very first over, he nips out two big wickets.

After 105.3 overs on the field, Tiwary may have hoped for some time to rest his aching knees, but even before he could imagine, he is in the heat of the battle. There are five fielders around him – slip, short leg, silly point, short cover and short midwicket. It’s a game on.

Tiwary takes guard at 11 for 3 in the fourth over, surveys the field carefully and quickly gets down on one knee to paddle his first ball for four past short fine leg. In the same over, he reverses Saransh Jain for two more boundaries – wrists nicely rolled over the ball to keep it down and send it scurrying behind point. This is a calculated Tactic of throwing the offspinner off gear.

Four years ago, Tiwary watched Shahbaz bat in a league game at the Kalighat Club grounds and asked for his stats. At the selection meeting the next day, to pick the Squad for the 2018-19 season, Tiwary carried a printout that had Shahbaz’s numbers in club Cricket. Tiwary wouldn’t even have an inkling of the opposition they had to face from certain quarters, because the boy was an “outsider.”

“Then I’m an outsider, too,” they believed to have said, pointing to his Uttar Pradesh roots. Tiwary eventually had his way. A senior player fighting for a Talented Rookie and shielding him from the scrutiny – which he was getting for no fault of his – told you how much he was valued.

It is this early promise that Shahbaz carried with him then that he is slowly repaying now. The Shahbaz of today is a more confident individual who understands his game better. He has already graduated to become an important member of the set-up within three years of his debut, and the confidence of three IPL stints with Royal Challengers Bangalore only Shining bright.

Here, Tiwary and Shahbaz had a job to do. They were the last recognized pair. They couldn’t have gone hard because of the inherent risk of losing a wicket and exposing the lower order with a massive deficit. They couldn’t have just blocked out the bowling, because of the time left in the game. They chose the in-between route and along the way, kept reeling off runs every time the bowlers erred.

As tea approached, MP went flat, and Tiwary brought out a neat shuffle from the middle to off and reached out to meet half-volleys that he caressed through covers and down the ground. It didn’t occur to him until after he played the shot that this is the very position he wasn’t entirely comfortable getting into because of his injury. He was batting on Instinct.

Tiwary got to his half-century off 121 balls; Shahbaz got there a tad faster, off 108. By the time they got to their individual landmarks, the century stand had been raised and the deficit had been whittled down to 144. Tiwary was unbeaten on 84; Shahbaz is 72. As they walked off, tired, and very satisfied, the overcast skies had given way to bright Sunshine and Bengal’s hopes had brightened significantly. There was still a glimmer of hope. The Ranji Trophy dream was alive.