It is a dream for the player to get an Indian cricket team cap, but not only getting it is difficult but maintaining the position in the squad is also a tedious job.
Among the prominent names, Manoj Tiwary – served Bengal for about two decades and represented India in 12 ODIs and three T20Is – is part of that list. A day after Bengal’s final match in the Ranji Trophy this season on Sunday, Tiwary announced his retirement.
Tiwary made his One-Day International debut in Australia in 2008. He even scored his first ODI ton against West Indies in Chennai On December 11, 2011, who which he was adjudged the Man of the Match for his performance.
However, he was excluded from the playing XI again until July 2012 against Sri Lanka.
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On 19 February, a day after retirement, Tiwari stated that his biggest regret would be not getting the Test cap after having represented India in the ODIs and T20Is.
“When I had completed playing 65 first-class matches, my batting average was around 65. The Australia team had toured India then, and I had scored 130 in Chennai in a friendly game, then I scored 93 against England in a friendly game. I was very close, but they picked Yuvraj Singh instead. So Test cap and the fact that I was ignored after getting the Man of the Match award for scoring a hundred…I was ignored for 14 straight matches. When self-confidence is at its peak and someone destroys that, then that player is finished,” Manoj Tiwary told News18.
“Confidence is everything for a player, in any profession. Who killed that confidence?” Tiwary was asked upfront. “I know the name but I don’t want to take it. I am a grown man now. When a player is omitted, it’s the decision of the team management,” he replied.
On being asked who was the captain at that time, he said, “The captain of that team was MS Dhoni. I am asking you upfront.”
“Yes, MS Dhoni was the captain. If I get the opportunity to ask the question, I will ask him why I was dropped from the team after scoring the century, especially in that tour of Australia where nobody was scoring runs, neither Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, or Suresh Raina. I have nothing to lose now,” he said.
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Published: 19 Feb 2024, 10:58 PM IST