Veteran or Unlucky? As a player who showed promise but fell short of expectations, he will likely resonate with people who are eager to play for their country. But since his First Class debut at the Eden Gardens in 2004, Manoj Tiwary has been a huge asset for Bengal, as passionate local cricket fans are aware. After serving Bengal for a few decades and amassing more than 10,000 red-ball runs, he eventually decided to retire.
In an exclusive interview with CricTracker, the former all-rounder reflected on his cricket career and life in his “second innings.” The conversation focused mostly on his time playing international cricket and his interactions with senior players like Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, and Sachin Tendulkar. The 39-year-old also believes that his time playing internationals was cut short because he did not have the support of the team management.
Excerpts
You’ve often been described as “one of the unluckiest cricketers” for India. Do you feel you were underutilized at the international level?
See, obviously, injury has played a major part in my cricketing journey, which has halted me a couple a lot of times in my growth. But hearing the word unlucky, I don’t agree with that. Why will I not agree with that? Because I’m blessed today that I’m able to breathe here. I’m alive. And when I see people who don’t have one leg, who are specially-able, and people who are suffering, they are the unlucky ones, not us. At least we are breathing. We have two legs, two arms, and two eyes, healthy.
It is just that an opportunity was not given at the right time, or the support that I needed during my playing days was not there. That will not be considered as unlucky as a cricketer, or maybe when I got injured a couple of times during my peak time. Obviously, that hurts, but I would not describe those moments as unlucky, as or not the one who has been very lucky with his journey. I see life from a different perspective. I believe I’ve given everything, and God has been kind. And people who have helped me in my growth have also been very kind to me.
I was not given my due in my international career. Well, long story, keeping it short, if I have to tell that, see, after scoring 100 in the last international match against West Indies in Chennai, where I got the Man of the Match Award. And that moment when I celebrated, the thought that was running through my mind was that now I’m very happy, satisfied. The confidence was back, that, yeah, now I belong to the international level, that satisfaction.
Even if you see in the celebration, when I celebrated, it was not a very expressive celebration. It was just a quiet one, just realizing the fact that, yeah, there have been question marks on me, whether I’ll be able to sustain at the international level. But the moment when I scored 100, the thoughts which was running like, Now I have proven to myself and also the people who are constantly asking me the question or pointing fingers at me. So I was at my peak as far as confidence is concerned. Never to realize that next 14 games, I have to be out of playing 11 in the international matches. So at that moment, I had no idea.
So I can say, if I had been given an immediate opportunity after that century, you never know, because in a person’s life, or a cricketer’s life, or a sportsman’s life, confidence is something that no one should break that confidence when someone is on high. So yes, I believe that my confidence was shattered at that point in time, but that’s the way it is. Life is such that not everything you want or wish, you will get it. So this was something which I never expected to happen. But it happened. I’ve taken that as well as the learnings in life.
You scored a century for India but didn’t get a consistent run—what went wrong, according to you?
I’m not the one who will be able to answer this question. I think MS Dhoni, Duncan Fletcher, and the selectors will be the ones who will be able to answer that because till now, I haven’t got any answer. Furthermore, I’m not someone who will call up the coach or the selectors or the captain at that time to answer me this. But I’ve earlier said that whenever I come across to MS Dhoni, definitely I’ll ask him what are the main reasons why I was not given the opportunity after scoring 100. So till now, I have no clue what went wrong, what were their thought process at that point of time. It is a question which needs to be asked to the ones who have made that decision and who were there at that time were taking the calls.
MS Dhoni was known for backing players despite failures. Do you think you got that backing from him?
No, I don’t think so. See, reputation, perception is something that people go by. But I’m the one, and there are a few others as well in the team who have gone through the period of his tenure as well. So there are a lot of players who have a different version of how he used to back his players. In my experience, see, I can only share my experience, what has happened to me. If he had really backed his players, then he would have definitely backed me because I performed in that particular match and over a period of time.
I again came back to the playing 11, I picked up a four-wicket haul in the match against Sri Lanka, scored 21 runs in that game, and the next game as well, I scored 65 runs in Sri Lanka. I don’t know what happened after that. So I didn’t get the backing, which I was hoping to get. But it’s something very difficult to understand why he didn’t back me because I always felt that performance is the ultimate criterion to make your place in the playing XI or in the squad.
But in my case, it didn’t happen. I cannot say for the others. Everybody likes MS and obviously, he has proven over a period of time with his leadership, which I always say that, that his leadership qualities were very good. But somehow, in my case, I don’t know. He’s the only one who can answer your question. But I think there were a couple of individuals whom he really liked and gave full backing at that point in time. A lot of people know, but not everyone comes forward and speaks about it. So there is a very strong liking and disliking that happens in cricket everywhere. So I consider myself not liking one. He did not like me, maybe. That is the only thing that I can answer you.
Did you ever feel sidelined in Team India because of favouritism or lack of backing from seniors?
No, I’ve got backing from Virender Sehwag. I’ve always said that Viru paji 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.
And I felt that when he 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 that 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 honor for me. Wherever you ask me to bat, I will bat there.’ But he said, ‘No, you tell me, where have you batted so many years in your first-class cricket?’ So I said at number 4. So he said, ‘Yeah, that’s your number. You will go at 4.’
And he conveyed the message to Gambhir who led in his absence in that particular game. So he conveyed that Manoj should bat at number 4. And that is the reason you see that 100 which happened. And it was all God’s plan, basically, through him, which happened. So he always backed me. I’ve always been in debt to him till the time I’m breathing.
And Sachin [Tendulkar] Paji as well, Yuvraj Singh as well, Harbhajan Singh as well. A lot of seniors have back me during that time, but they have limited control over the decision-making. At that time, the only decision-maker was MS Dhoni, and also the foreign coaches who come up, they just go with the captain because nobody wants to go to war with the Indian captain because their jobs are on the line. Because if a captain complains to the BCCI or shows disagreements over a few things, then the blood is always on the neck of the coaches.
We have seen this in the past as well. So your captain is the last one in Indian cricket. We have seen over a period of time. So apart from him, I think everyone has backed me, supported me. So I won’t say that seniors have not backed me, just that the decision maker who was MS Dhoni, I didn’t get the backing, which I was hoping to get.
