Manoj Tiwary, a veteran batsman for India and Bengal, proclaimed his retirement from all forms of cricket on Thursday, August 3.
“Goodbye to the game of cricket. This game has given me everything, I mean every single thing which I had never dreamt if, starting from the times when my life was challenged by different forms of difficulties [sic],” the 37-year-old wrote on Instagram.
In 2008, Tiwary made his debut for India in a one-day international (ODI) in Brisbane, however he was out without scoring a run. In the end, he was forced to sit out for another three years before he could play for India again. It was during this stretch that he scored his only century in international cricket, and it took place in Chennai against the West Indies.
After not being selected for the One-Day International team in 2012, Tiwary went on to represent India on just four further times, one of which being a series in Zimbabwe in 2015. Overall, he appeared in 12 One-Day Internationals and three Twenty20 Internationals for the national team.
Tiwary, who serves as the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports in West Bengal, has played often for his state while being left out of the national reckoning. Most recently, he led his team as they advanced to the Ranji Trophy final. The right-handed batsman had a brilliant career in first-class cricket, finishing with almost 9900 runs and blasting 29 hundreds while maintaining an average of 48.56. This includes a personal high score of 303*, which was achieved in January 2022 versus Hyderabad.
Tiwary also participated in the Indian Premier League, playing 98 games during his career and scoring the winning runs for Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2012 championship match against Chennai Super Kings. In 2017, he had one of his greatest seasons in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and it was during that year that Rising Pune Supergiant made it all the way to the championship game. However, after that season, he only participated in five more matches in the league.
