Bengal sports minister and cricketer, Manoj Tiwary hinted at his retirement by saying that he wants to win this season of the Ranji Trophy and end his career on a good note.
Manoj Tiwary made news when he became the sports minister of Bengal after his party won the state election. He continued playing domestic cricket and IPL despite being a politician. Moreover, the 37-year-old is in exceptional form in the ongoing season of the Ranji Trophy.
He scored a match winning knock of an unbeaten 60 against Uttar Pradesh. The veteran’s stable innings led his team to a 6-wicket victory over UP. This is Bengal’s first win of the season, and they stand second in the table. Post-match, Manoj Tiwary interacted with the media and stated that he wants Bengal to win this season and end the trophy drought.
“We have to play like champions,” Manoj Tiwary
Manoj Tiwary spoke to the media after the match and said that Bengal needs to step up their game if they want to win this tournament. He further added that the team played well but can do better as the tournament is getting tougher each day.
“We have to play like champions. We won today, but it’s not like we played exceptional cricket. If we look session-by-session, there were phases when we bowled badly. And our opening batters must score runs. If we want to win the Ranji Trophy, we must take our game to the next level,”
Manoj Tiwary is leading the Bengal team in place of Abhimanyu Easwaran. The latter is on national duty as he is a part of India’s test squad against Bangladesh. Tiwary stated that he is enjoying being captain at the moment and is not feeling any pressure.
“I am quite relaxed about leading the team. When I stepped down as the first-class captain of Bengal, I was told to continue as captain of the one-day and T20 sides, but I had refused, telling them that we need to groom a younger player as captain. But in Abhimanyu’s absence, I realised I have to take this responsibility because decision-making is such a crucial part of the game,”
Follow us for more sports related news on twitter
