Manoj Tiwary could never cement his spot in the Indian cricket team after making his international debut in an ODI against Australia in February 2008. The 39-year-old former Indian batsman could only play in 12 ODIs and three T20Is for India before he announced his retirement in 2024. Tiwary, who entered politics towards the end of his playing career and is now the the Minister of State for Sports in West Bengal, recalled that he had received backing from Virender Sehwag.
“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,” Tiwary told Crictracker.
“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.”
Prior to his international debut against Australia in Brisbane, Tiwary had amassed 796 runs at an average of 99.50 in the 2006-07 Ranji Trophy and was set to make his debut for India in the first ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur in May, 2007. A shoulder injury during training meant that Tiwary was sidelined from the series and had to wait for more than eight months for his ODI debut in Australia.
Tiwary then returned to the Indian ODI team in 2011 for their tours of the West Indies and England and it was in the former that he scored his maiden international century. Tiwary recalled his conversation with Sehwag, who did not play in the final ODI, in the team bus.
“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,” added Tiwary, who scored 10,195 runs in his first class career.
The former Indian cricketer also recalled how Sehwag had conveyed the message to Gautam Gambhir, who captained India in the last ODI against West Indies, about Tiwary’s batting position. “And he conveyed the message to (Gautam) 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,”Tiwary concluded.
