Manoj Tiwary and Virender Sehwag (Source: @Ipl_scoop, @BCCI/X.com)
Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary has had his fair share of troubles during his stint with the national cricket team. Tiwary, who was originally from Bengal, struggled to survive in international cricket due to a lack of opportunities.
Tiwary Felt Injustice In The Dressing Room
In a recent exclusive interview with CricTracker, Manoj Tiwary expressed his disappointment over not getting proper backing from the Indian management during his stay with the Men in Blue. The right-hander, who is now retired and serves as Minister of State for Sports in West Bengal, expressed gratitude to Virender Sehwag for his unwavering support during the challenging times.
Speaking about his experience, Tiwary was pleased by how Sehwag treated him during his stint with the Indian side, as he mentioned that the former opener sacrificed his own spot in the side so that the Bengal cricketer could get his desired spot in the team.
Tiwary then went on to lash out at the Indian team at the time for the injustice that had happened to him, despite scoring consistently in the limited opportunities he had.
“I’ve always said that Viru paaji is one of the individuals who has really backed me. In fact, the century that has come in the West Indies game where I got Man of the Match. He’s the one who sacrificed his place, and he took rest before the game. And everyone knows that in that series, where Sehwag scored a double-hundred. So he would have loved to continue and score more runs. But he’s such a good human being that he was observing my career in the Indian team for so many years. So he must have felt a little injustice was happening to me," Tiwary said to Crictracker.
It is worth mentioning that Tiwary would only feature in 12 ODI matches, scoring 287 runs at an average of 26.09, where he got a century and a half-century; while with the ball, he registered five wickets for India. Additionally, he had opportunities in three T20Is but failed, managing only 15 runs in the one innings he got to bat in.
When Sehwag Sacrificed His Spot For Tiwary
The 39-year-old made his debut against Australia in Brisbane in 2008 and then got his next opportunity in 2011, when India played against the West Indies and England.
Further speaking about how he supported him, Manoj revealed that he had an interesting conversation with Virender Sehwag on the bus, where the former cricketer allowed him to bat in his preferred position at number four, a position where he had scored plenty of runs in the Ranji Trophy for Bengal before, during the 2006/7 season.
“And I felt that when he (Virender Sehwag) got the opportunity to rest himself and make a place for me in the playing 11, and not only make a part of the Playing XI, but also to give me my batting position, which was at number four. Initially, when I told him, when he asked me in the bus ‘Which number you want to bat?’ So before that, I was not playing. So I said, ‘Viru paji, playing for India is a big thing and an honour for me. Wherever you ask me to bat, I will bat there.’ But he said, ‘No, you tell me, where have you batted so much in your First-Class cricket?’ So I said at number 4. So he said, ‘Yeah, that’s your number. You will go at 4," he concluded.
Tiwary, a seasoned campaigner in the Ranji Trophy, scored 10,195 runs in first-class cricket across 148 matches, averaging 47.86 with 30 centuries and 45 half-centuries. In the 50-over format of domestic cricket, he scored 5,581 runs in 169 matches.
Despite his excellent performances all around, he could not secure his spot in the side, as management preferred other players, such as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who turned out to be the best bets for Indian cricket.
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