Doing well through season helped: Tiwary

It was while surfing channels on Friday afternoon that Manoj Tiwary got the news of his recall to the India squad. After seeing the news ticker that Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh were doubtful, he started sniffing his chance and finally his wish came true.

It was while surfing channels on Friday afternoon that Manoj Tiwary got the news of his recall to the India squad. After seeing the news ticker that Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh were doubtful, he started sniffing his chance and finally his wish came true.

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"It means everything to me. I play cricket because I want to represent my country, serve my country. Now that I've got this chance, I want to play to potential," Tiwary told HT.

"I generally flip through news channels when I'm not playing in the afternoon and it was no different today. I wasn't very hopeful initially, but started feeling I might get in when they started showing even Yuvraj was uncertain. It's very satisfying to get rewarded for your hard work," said the batsman, who played his first and last ODI against Australia in March 2008.

On that occasion, he was thrust into the 11 just 24 hours after landing in Brisbane and Brett Lee ensured that his international debut didn't last longer than 16 balls. "No complaints. As a professional cricketer, you have to be ready for every opportunity. Unfortunately, I wasn't at my best at that time."

Having done well against internationally acclaimed bowlers in the IPL, Tiwary is high on confidence. "It means a lot when you hit bowlers like Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. It'll help me be in the right frame of mind. It's something unique that the IPL provides and I'm happy to have made the most of this chance."