Manoj Tiwary took to social media on Thursday afternoon to announce his decision to retire from all forms of the game.
The decision wasn’t really something out of the blue as the former Bengal captain, who also represented India in 12 ODIs and three T20Is, had said during last season’s Ranji Trophy knockout stage that he would retire if Bengal won the competition, which was his “ultimate goal”.
Under his leadership, Bengal did reach the Ranji final but lost to Saurashtra at Eden Gardens in February.
Being 92 short of 10,000 first-class runs, speculation was rife that Tiwary, also minister of state for sports and youth affairs in the Bengal cabinet, would play for another season to reach the landmark. But he didn’t attend any of the training sessions when the Bengal team began its pre-season last month.
The Bengal team management, too, was unsure of the availability of Tiwary, who had already quit one-dayers and T20s midway last season. Surprisingly, the Bengal coaching staff and even the Cricket Association of Bengal brass came to know of Tiwary’s decision only after his social media post.
In the end, Tiwary would go down as one of the best cricketers of Bengal who never quite saw the rub of the green go his way. He played four Ranji finals, but Bengal finished second best in all of them.
Since early 2007, during his maiden India call-up for the Bangladesh tour and thereafter, injuries went on to hamper his prospects.
In December 2011, Tiwary scored an unbeaten hundred (104 not out) against the West Indies in an ODI in Chennai. Thereafter he played only six ODIs, which only underlines the fact he didn’t get enough backing.
With Tiwary now no longer available, Bengal have the task of finding a captain, especially for the Ranji Trophy. Abhimanyu Easwaran, still among the India hopefuls, was the skipper when Bengal finished runners-up in 2019-20 Ranji, but he doesn’t seem to enjoy the confidence of the coaching staff.
“Anustup (Majumdar) could be one of the choices as captain as he’ll be the seniormost now in the squad. At the same time though, there’s a fair chance that the job can be handed over to a youngster to help him evolve. For instance, a promising guy like Sudip Gharami.
“The coaches are open to having a young player as captain,” a team source said.
