Kolkata: Bengal's premier batsman Manoj Tiwary, who is one of India's 30 probables for the World Cup, had a close shave after being hit by an Abhimanyu Mithun rising delivery on the final day of his team's Ranji Trophy cricket match against Karnataka at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

It was the first ball of the 38th over when Tiwary took off his eyes to Mithun's bouncer which in turn hit the back of his helmet, much to the horror of the visiting Karnataka players.

In a state of shock, all the players including Mithun from the High Court end went up to Tiwary and the Bengal physio also came in. Thankfully, unlike in Australian batsman Phil Hughes' case, the ball hit Tiwary's brand new white helmet and it seemed to have cracked, forcing a replacement.

Tiwary incidentally had opted for a white helmet but after the hit he went back his blue helmet. The Bengal stylish number four, who was on two from 10 balls, resumed his innings as skipper Vinay Kumar brought himself on in place of Mithun in the next over.

Eventually Tiwary could not stay at the crease for long, with Vinay Kumar finding his stumps. The experienced batsman was soon rushed to the hospital for an MRI as a precautionary measure.

Earlier in the tournament, Gujarat batsman Bhargav Merai was hit on the helmet by a Biplab Samantray short ball in a Ranji match at Tangi, Cuttack.