Manoj Tiwary wants to ask Dhoni why he was ignored in 2011 after his maiden ODI hundred: 'Have nothing to lose now'

Manoj Tiwary, who recently retired from professional cricket, has finally opened up on him being mysteriously excluded from Indian team after hitting a century in 2011 and said that he wants to ask the then captain MS Dhoni why he was not given another opportunity straightaway. Tiwary, who retired from all forms of cricket at the end of Bengal’s Ranji Trophy campaign, played 12 ODIs and three T20Is for India from 2008 to 2015, scoring his only hundred against West Indies in Chennai in December 2011, however, he had to wait seven more months to play his next game, against Sri Lanka in July 2012.

He has now said that if he gets an opportunity, Tiwary would like to ask the then India captain Dhoni about why he was made to wait 14 matches for a chance after his Player of the Match innings.

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“I want to hear from him whenever I get the opportunity. I will definitely ask this question. I would like to ask Dhoni why I was dropped from the team after scoring the century, especially in that tour of Australia where nobody was scoring runs, neither was Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or Suresh Raina. I have nothing to lose now,” he told News18.

He also added being ignored by the team management during the tour of Australia in 2012 where other batters like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina struggled for runs.

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Tiwary recalled missing out on a India Test cap and how the lack of opportunities affected his career.

“When I had completed playing 65 first-class matches, my batting average was around 65. The Australia team had toured India then, and I had scored 130 in a friendly game, then I scored 93 against England in a friendly game. I was very close, but they picked Yuvraj Singh instead. So Test cap and the fact that I was ignored after getting the Man of the Match award for scoring a hundred…I was ignored for 14 straight matches. When self-confidence is at its peak and someone destroys that, it tends to kill that player,” he added.

“Confidence is everything for a player, in any profession. Who killed that confidence?"

“I know the name, but I don’t want to take it. I am a grown man now. When a player is omitted, it’s the decision of the team management,” he said.