‘I went to my hotel room and cried’ – Manoj Tiwary on his grief of missing out on Test debut

Manoj Tiwary, the veteran Bengal batsman, made his international debut in 2008. But prior to that, he was set to make his Test debut during India’s tour of Bangladesh in 2007. However, fate had something cruel in store for the then talented youngster. Ahead of his maiden Test, he ended up dislocating his shoulder during fielding drills and couldn’t take part.

Tiwary never got to play Test cricket ever despite scoring nearly 9,000 runs at the first-class level with 27 tons and 37 half-centuries. In the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy, he also notched his highest score of 303* against Hyderabad in Kalyani. Going down the memory lane to 2007, the now 34-year-old Tiwary said how devastated he was after not being able to make his Test debut.

Manoj Tiwary opens up

“I was in great form, I was in a great rhythm, but I had to miss out because my anterior labrum tear. That day I went to my hotel room and cried,” Tiwary was quoted as saying to Sportskeeda. Tiwary remains to be a stalwart for Bengal ever since he made his first-class debut in 2004.

On February 2008, Tiwary finally got to don the Indian jersey during the tri-nation series in Australia. But at The Gabba in Brisbane, Brett Lee rattled his woodwork and he could manage only two runs. Thereafter, he had to wait for three more years to get his next chance.

“When we went to Australia, most of the middle order was not getting runs. There was enough space in the middle order that I could have fit in along with these guys,” he stated.

In 2011, Tiwary played his first major hand for Team India, scoring an unbeaten 104 against the West Indies at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The Howrah-born also churned out a useful 65 versus Sri Lanka in Pallekele. In his ODI career, Tiwary has played 12 matches, scoring 287 runs at an average of 26.09.

He has also played three T20Is for the national team. After last donning the national jersey in July 2015, chances of him making a comeback look a tad bleak. Tiwary also hasn’t played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after 2018.