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Inspired by Wasim Jaffer, Manoj Tiwary wants to keep going
Tiwary turned 34 last November. Jaffer completed 42 on Sunday, 12 days after making 57 for Vidarbha in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group game.
Manoj Tiwary does not want to stop. Not now, not anytime soon. He wants to tread the road on which Wasim Jaffer keeps walking.
“100%, he (Jaffer) is an inspiration. He a fantastic human being; his passion and commitment to cricket and calm demeanour should be a lesson to old and young. He is an example for players like me,” says Tiwary.
Tiwary turned 34 last November. Jaffer completed 42 on Sunday, 12 days after making 57 for Vidarbha in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group game.
“It means extra work on my body and my diet and, most importantly, my liquid intake. Strength building, staying supple gets difficult as you get older. I have been blessed with a sound physique but I don’t take it for granted.
“But the most important thing is to be happy. I have a sweet tooth and when I think it will make me feel better ‘mishti kheye ni (I pop in a sweet)’,” he says.
Before the 2019-20 season, Tiwary had a session with childhood coach Manabendra Ghosh. “The focus was on getting to dip my shoulder across rather than slanting towards mid-off while leaving the ball. That way, if I leave, I can move towards cover so that my stumps are protected and the bat kept away,” says Tiwary.
Three reasons to continue
There are three reasons why Tiwary—Bengal’s go-to man in a crisis scored his first and the state’s second-ever Ranji Trophy triple century this term—wants to prolong a domestic career that began in February 2004. In pole position is his love for cricket. Breaking stereotype and showing son Yuvaan, now 20 months old, how he earns a living are the others.
“I want to break the notion that someone who is 34-35 can’t be athletic anymore, can’t be consistent anymore. And I want to keep playing till my son is seven or eight when he can process it,” says the former Bengal captain ahead of the quarter-final against Odisha, in Cuttack from Thursday. This is the first time since 2017-18 that Bengal are in the knockout stage.
If in the time, a “miracle” has to happen, it will. “If you are fit and performing consistently you never know, you might get a call. The hope is there, the desire is there. Shahbaz Nadeem, nobody expected him to play that Test (in Ranchi against South Africa last year),” says Tiwary.
He injured his shoulder ahead of what was a certain India debut in 2007 and has played 12 ODIs and three T20Is since. His last India game was on July 14, 2015, against Zimbabwe. In between there was a phase where after scoring his only ODI century—104 not out against West Indies in 2011—and being adjudged Man of the Match, he was benched for 14 internationals.
“I have made peace with it but when someone comes up for a photograph or an autograph and says, ‘Oh! You have been so unlucky’, it does come back,” says Tiwary.
The shoulder took nearly a year to heal but having wept for days, Tiwary says giving up was not an option. “I had sacrificed academics for this sport. I knew if I could play well, we would get financial stability. I had to keep going.”
To do that Tiwary would watch the video of Derek Redmond’s 1992 Olympics 400m semi-final. “It taught me that no matter how hard you fall, you can get up and try to cross the line,” says Tiwary, referring to the British middle-distance runner who tore a hamstring but limped to the finish line, with his father lending a helping hand.
And there was Sourav Ganguly’s India comeback in 2006-07. “Everyone in the Bengal team saw his pain and his hunger to do well,” he says. Months later, in February 2007, Ganguly and Tiwary added 117 in a Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai which Bengal lost. Tiwary top-scored in Bengal’s second innings with 94 and was caught by Rohit Sharma, off Abhishek Nayar, while trying to cut.
“I blame myself for that dismissal when we were going really well. But now if such a situation were to happen in a final, it will be different. Then I was 21 and without much experience. My natural instinct was to attack all the bowlers. Now, I understand situations better,” says Tiwary.
Opening for Mumbai, Jaffer made 112 in that match, which was also the last time Bengal played the final. Since then, Tiwary has evolved into Bengal’s batting mainstay with 8,899 runs in 122 first-class games at an average of 51.43. At 641 runs this term, he is Bengal’s highest-scorer. Tiwary has scored 5,466 runs in 163 List A games and 3,384 runs in 178 T20s.
Triple not season’s best
“I say this with humility that when I go to bat, the opposition takes a step back. It is not unusual because of the runs I have scored and the games I have played. But I still need to back my instincts, play shots and take those little calculated risks that are part of my game,” says Tiwary.
He began the Ranji season with 51 against Kerala and made 46 (v Andhra), 37 (v Gujarat), 48 and 9 (v Vidarbha). “They were on difficult tracks, either turners or green tops, and I told myself that on good wickets such scores would be equivalent to more than 100,” says Tiwary.
In Kalyani last month with Bengal at 60/3, Tiwary came in and got 303 not out against Hyderabad, his innings forging a win by an innings and 303 runs. On a turning track in the last league game in Patiala, Tiwary made an unbeaten 73 and 65 giving left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed (11/101) the platform to beat Punjab by 48 runs.
“I would rate those innings (v Punjab) above the triple. We knew if we didn’t win, we would miss the quarter-finals for another season. Having said that, a triple hundred is not something you achieve on a regular basis,” says Tiwary, before his “first son”, German Shepherd Maximus, woofs for attention.
Abhimanyu Easwaran replacing him as captain this season means Tiwary does not have to bother with team picks and pitches. “Maybe that is why I can fully focus on my game. Give more time to things like batting technique and game plan,” he says.
But if he is at peace with himself it is because of Yuvaan. “Seeing him smile eases stress and ends frustration,” says Tiwary.
That does not mean it has been a season shorn of controversy for the man who has hit out at national selectors and told his 2.8 million followers on Twitter what he felt about being snubbed by IPL franchises for two successive player auctions. This term, Tiwary evicted national selector Devang Gandhi from the Bengal change room because he violated anti-corruption rules.
“He (Gandhi) doesn’t respond to calls or messages, so there is no question of making up,” says Tiwary. Ask why he and no one else called out Gandhi, he says: “Maybe no one noticed, maybe they didn’t want to. All my life, I have never hidden behind words. Ja bolechhi, besh korechhi (I stand by what I said).”
