On the eve of his 33rd birthday, Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary gifted himself an unbeaten double century against Madhya Pradesh in their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday and rated his innings as one of his top performances.

Tiwary had walked in to bat at 179/2 and forged a 59-run partnership with Koushik Ghosh who departed after scoring 100. From 238/2, Bengal lost three quick wickets and were at 278/5 before Tiwary, who turned 33 on Wednesday, led from the front on the second day to ensure a sizeable score.

Photo credit: Manoj Tiwary/Facebook

He raised his fifty in 91 balls, put on 55 runs with wicketkeeper Vivek Singh for the sixth wicket and then added 95 with Aamir Gani for the seventh, with the Kings XI Punjab batsman doing the bulk of the scoring in the latter stand. With the tail, he continued to keep the scoreboard ticking -- his final 35 runs came off just 29 balls –- as he upped his pace with three fours and two sixes after the ninth wicket fell.

For the final wicket, 36 runs were added in just 24 balls as he eventually declared the innings at 510/9 and ended up not out on 201 off 279 deliveries.

"This will be among my top three knocks," declared Tiwary. "My mother watched this innings from the stands and I played with a new bat that has my four-month-old son Yuvaan's name engraved on it."

It was his 25th First Class century, taking 166 balls to bring up his ton with a drive through the covers off leg-spinner Mihir Hirwani. He then took just another 113 balls to bring up his fifth double hundred that was laced with 20 boundaries and 4 maximums.

"I congratulate him," said Cricket Association of Bengal president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly. "Tiwary is always very dear to us."