Youngsters Manoj Tiwari and Avishek Jhunjhunwala cracked tons as Bengal reached a mammoth 540 for six in their first innings on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match against Mumbai in Kolkata on Saturday.
Resuming the day on 226 for two, the Bengal batsmen had a field day on a lifeless track as Tiwari (182 not out) and Jhunjhunwala (114) led their side to the huge total with able assistance from Laxmi Ratan Shukla (65), despite a negative outside-the-leg-stump line adopted by Mumbai bowlers.
The Eden Gardens run feast saw Bengal eclipsing their previous highest against Mumbai (387) made in the 1968-69 final, with Tiwari eight short of overhauling Arun Lal's highest individual knock (189 not out) in 1989-90.
The two centurions, at the crease at stumps on Friday, added 99 runs for the third wicket, as Jhunjhunwala resuming on 87 got to the three-figure mark in the morning with a single. He reached the landmark in 298 minutes of 246 balls, smashing 16 boundaries.
Jhunjhunwala's knock (264 b, 340 m, 18x4) ended as he tried to sweep spinner Nilesh Kulkarni from outside the off-stump and Amol Muzumdar took the top edge in the slip region.
Rohan Gavaskar (20) and skipper Deep Dasgupta (25) departed cheaply as Bengal were reduced to 361 for five before Tiwary and Shukla stitched together a 171-run sixth wicket partnership that took Bengal past 500.
Tiwary, unbeaten on nine yesterday, completed his ton (187 b, 263 m, 11x4, 1x6) by reverse sweeping Kulkarni for a boundary.
He gave two chances after reaching the mark, but remained unconquered till the end having faced 309 balls and hit 21 fours and a six during his stay in the middle.
Scoreboard:
Bengal first innings (overnight 226-2)
A Das lbw b Hazare 26
A Chakrabarty c & b Kulkarni 81
A Jhunjhunwala c Mumzumdar b Kulkarni 114
M Tiwary not out 182
R Gavaskar run out 20
D Dasgupta c Samant b Powar 8
L R Shukla run out 65
S Lahiri not out 6
Extras (pen-5, b-6, lb-21, nb-2, w-4) 38
Total (for 6 wkts, 181 overs) 540
Fall of wickets: 1/71, 2/201, 3/300, 4/345, 5/361, 6/532.
Bowling: Verma 31-5-84-0, Hazare 33-5-105-1, Powar 47-7-136-1, Kulkarni 47-14-100-2, Thakkar 1-0-6-0, Shetty 11-3-29-0, Sharma 9-0-35-0, Muzumdar 1-0-9-0, Mane 1-0-4-0.
