CAB felicitates Manoj Tiwary for illustrious career

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) on Sunday, February 18 felicitated Manoj Tiwary, who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 38-year-old played 148 first-class matches for Bengal and led them to the final last season, where they suffered a defeat at the hands of Saurashtra. He was planning to call it quits after that but decided to lead the team for another year.

However, his ending wasn’t a fairytale one as Bengal failed to qualify for the knockouts of the Ranji Trophy 2024 after finishing third in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B. After Tiwary’s final game against Bihar, CAB president Snehasish Ganguly felicitated Tiwary with a golden bat-and-ball memento. The cricketer-turned-politician turned emotional and stated that he misses his father and his mother and his wife have been his motivation.

“I miss my father today who passed away in 2017. My mother and my wife have been my motivation. They complete me,” Tiwary was quoted as saying by News18.

Notably, Tiwari made his India debut in 2008 against Australia. He represented the national team in 12 ODIs and three T20Is and scored 287 and 15 runs, respectively. Despite being one of the prominent names in domestic cricket, Tiwary never managed to get a consistent run in international cricket, especially in red-ball cricket, in which he has scored over 10,000 runs in first-class cricket.

The Howrah-born cricketer also recalled his interaction with legendary cricketer Sourav Ganguly during his initial days of playing. 

“Dada (Sourav) was this young fair left-hander when I first came to Eden Gardens. I thought this is really the Prince of Kolkata and I need to play like him,” said Tiwary.

The veteran cricketer thanked his teammates, seniors, and CAB administrators, including the late Jagmohan Dalmiya, Avishek Dalmiya, and Snehasish Ganguly, during the ceremony. He is likely to focus more on his political career, as the veteran serves as the Minister of State for Youth Services and Sports of West Bengal.