The Indian cricketing roster has been abuzz with Manoj Tiwary’s bombshell statement about why he was taken off from the Indian team after scoring a century. He regrets not getting another chance which possibly could have made him as good as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Well do you think what Manoj Tiwary said is right?
It isn’t just Manoj Tiwary who wouldn’t crack the Indian team anymore. There were several other stars too. But the entire point of this discussion was what went wrong? To be honest, nothing went wrong but ever since IPL happened, the options were aplenty for Team India.
Manoj Tiwary said “If players has to go through dope tests, it should be extended to domestic umpires – many times I have seen umpires looked sleepy – I ask them, sir what did you drink last night – they reply with laugh ‘I prefer whisky on the rocks’ – BCCI should get hearing &… pic.twitter.com/z6ChRUz7Yy
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 20, 2024
So what was exactly needed to be in the line-up for the Men in Blue? Performances and absolutely a boatload of them. Consistency, a spark that would set you apart from the others. Manoj Tiwary certainly did set the bar extremely high for himself but was it high enough? Maybe it was but then the way Rohit and Virat started performing, there was hardly any space for the middle-order hitter to be squeezed through.
Now obviously taking a look at the domestic circuit, did Manoj actually stop scoring? No he didn’t. He scored effusively enough. But with Virat Kohli stepping up at that point in time who would score runs for fun, who would score centuries away from home, the bar was getting higher.
A possible last resort for Manoj Tiwary was to try and float himself in various positions of the batting order which didn’t happen. Also, the IPL numbers weren’t exactly promising for the man who was just making his presence felt. So was Manoj a victim of Dhoni? No. He was a victim of circumstances and that is how cruel life and cricket can be.
Possibly Manoj’s statement would take us back to another domestic juggernaut who recently called a day from cricket, Saurabh Tiwary. The man had so much potential but when international cricket came calling, he fell short.
This is just one of the few downsides of having an extensive pool of youngsters ready to showcase themselves. You have to be at your peak always and unless you are getting that done, no matter how good you are, the word ‘good’ just takes a backseat and there is nothing much that you can do. Sorry Manoj that we didn’t see you in the national colours anymore. But I reckon, that is how it was all destined to be.
