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Manoj Tiwary opened up on how he struggled to find a place in the Indian cricket team and how youngsters felt scared when making the jump to international cricket.
Manoj Tiwary struggled to cement his spot in the Indian national team. (Image: X)
The former Indian cricketer, Manoj Tiwary opened up on his struggles after making his way up to the national team. The former Bengal skipper lamented on the lack of clarity behind his non-selection despite having had performances under his belt and questioned why other star players were given a longer rope.
In an interview with ‘The Lallantop’, Tiwary opened up about how the selections taken are different when it comes to the international and domestic scene. He also suggested that it would take a strong administrative call from the Board of Control for Cricket in India to bring forth a change the current selection criteria.
“He (Dhoni) was the captain and the team ran on the plans set by the skipper. It has always been like that. State-wise it is different. Voting happens, club representation is there, and there are a lot more aspects,” he shared.
“In the Indian team, when it was Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma all had their say and will continue to do so until a strong administrator comes in and makes changes,” he added.
Tiwary also explained what went through a youngster’s mind during those days. He suggested that a lot of fear was involved when asking questions on why a player was not selected with the added risk of ruining their chances in the future.
“At that time, youngsters used to feel scared, even I did. The fear was that if I had gone and asked a senior, how would they have taken the question? Your career is on the line as well and if the skipper gets mad, then he will sideline your career,” Tiwary explained.
The former KKR cricketer also expressed his disappointment in not being picked in the side during the tour of Australia where despite having runs under his belt, other stars were being given additional chances to prove themselves.
In the Australian tour, the likes of Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, and Rohit Sharma were all in the team, they were not making runs at the time. I managed to score a century and win a Player of the Match award earlier, yet I could not find a place in the Playing 11. I was broken then and felt that I should take retirement from international cricket itself”.
