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[caption id="attachment_29422" align="alignnone" width="580"] Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary and Sudip Chatterjee scored big hundreds to lead fightback against Mumbai in Ranji Trophy at Nagpur on Thursday. File Pic.[/caption] Internet Desk: Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary (169) and Sudip Chatterjee (130) shared a partnership of 271 runs to lead a brilliant fight back against Mumbai on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Group A clash at Nagpur on Thursday. Bengal at stumps is 433/8, have already taken a lead of 303 runs with two wickets in hand. Bad light stopped play half an hour before the scheduled time. It also influenced the Bengal captain from not declaring the innings. “The declaration was very much on but bad light played a part. The play was supposed to go on till 5 pm but the bad light forced the play to stop at 4:10 pm” said Manoj to xtratime.in Commencing on the overnight score of 198 for 3, Manoj and Sudip ensured they carry on their partnership. And they both did that to perfection as both of them reached their hundreds and batted through the first session. Abhishek Nayar gave the first breakthrough today, getting rid of Sudip for 130 runs. Bengal was 327/4 at that stage. However, Manoj Tiwary continued to carry the innings as he went past his 150 runs. The Bengal captain eventually ran himself out by Shardul Thakur after a well made 169 runs off 288 balls. Manoj who scored his 28th first class hundred was complimented by the Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly . Talking about his knock Manoj said, “I am very happy with my knock today. It is always a good feeling to score against a team like Mumbai who are also the defending champions. The situation also demanded a big knock from me.” Later in the day, when a lead of 300 was looking impossible, Pragyan Ojha contributed a useful 30 runs to take Bengal over the mark. For Mumbai, the bowlers struggled, they tried everything but in the end the day went to Bengal. Dhawal Kulkarni returned with figures 4 for 108, while Abhishek Nayar took 2 for 70. At stumps batting for Bengal, Pragyan Ojha (30) and Amit Kuila (18). Asked to comment whether Bengal will go for the win on the last day, Manoj said, “We are definitely in with a chance. We have to bowl in the right areas tomorrow. There is still some purchase from the wicket for the pacers. Spinners will also come into play. Hopefully Pragyan can get us some key breakthroughs.” The Bengal captain also lauded Sudip for his effort with the bat. "It was very important knock from him. He has been very consistent for us this season. We discussed about building on the partnership without taking any risks,” said Manoj. It was a good day for the Bengal U’19 boys as well. In the Under 19 Vijay Merchant Trophy at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, Bengal reached 284 for 7 to end the first day’s play against Odisha. Put into bat, Bengal lost their first wicket, Diganta Neogi (29) for 37. But then a second wicket partnership of 115 runs between Ayush Pandey (76) and Dibya (48) steadied Bengal’s innings, before Ayush was sent off by Shibasish Sahoo, reducing Bengal to 152 for 2. Bengal lost their third wicket, when Dibya was trapped by the same bowler taking Bengal down to 165 for 3. Among the other, Arin Roy (34), Karan (30) contributed some useful runs to the total. Shibasish Sahoo remained the top of the bowler with figures 3 for 38.