5 Players treated unfairly by the selectors

Manoj Tiwary

Manoj Tiwary was repeatedly ignored despite getting a hundred and a fifty in ODI cricket

Among the many talented batsmen who have been dwelling in the first-class circuit without getting enough opportunity at the international level is Manoj Tiwary of Bengal. A competent right-handed batsman, Tiwary was brought into the Indian ODI side as early as 2008 but after just one match was sent into an exile that lasted till 2011.

That year, in the final ODI of the home series against West Indies, Tiwary scored a brilliant match-winning hundred. Yet, he wasn’t given a single match in the next two ODI tournaments that India played – a triangular series in Australia and the Asia Cup. This while two other batsmen – Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma were being persisted with despite poor returns.

Tiwary’s opportunity came in the 5-match series against hosts Sri Lanka in the second half of 2012. There too, he was played in just two matches – in the second one of which, he scored a good 65. In spite of such encouraging returns, he was never given an extended run of games to settle into the ODI team. After the Sri Lankan series, he got his next outing in an ODI played in 2014.

The final opportunity selectors afforded him was during India’s brief tour to Zimbabwe in 2015 where, after failing to shine in three ODI’s, he has remained out of international cricket.

A player of his ability should have been given more chances. When one considers the amount of support Suresh Raina received from his captain Dhoni even during tough times and the many chances given to Rohit Sharma before he came good, it seems patently unfair that Tiwary got to play only four ODIs after scoring a hundred and a 65 in three matches - that too, after a gap of two years.

Both the team management and selectors deserve criticism for denying this veteran – now 33 years old – his due share of chances.