Image: Manoj Tiwary thanks Virender Sehwag for support in his career / © Circle of Cricket
India’s former cricketer Manoj Tiwary expressed deep gratitude toward Virender Sehwag for helping him during his international career. Tiwary, who played 12 ODIs and 3 T20Is for India, praised Sehwag for giving him an opportunity to play in a crucial series against the West Indies, where Tiwary scored his first international century. In an interview to Lallantop, he said:
He [Sehwag] is my idol. I will be indebted to him till my last breath. Because if he didn’t drop himself, my life would have been different. When Virender Sehwag, [Gautam] Gambhir bhai and I had good relations, and I was part of the team for 7 years in and out, Viru bhai saw that I wasn’t getting chances or being shuffled up and down. Sometimes, I would suddenly made to open, and then bat at 5; he observed that I was not given justice. The series in which he scored a double hundred (in Indore). He rested himself and told Gambhir that we have to make him play and bat at No. 4. In the bus, Viru bhai asked me, where I wanted to bat. I said I just want to bat for the country. When he insisted, I told him, I’ve always batted at No. 4. So then he conveyed it to him [Gambhir].
Despite his impressive domestic record, Tiwary often found himself shuffled in the batting order and not getting enough chances. Tiwary revealed that Sehwag, who was his idol, made a selfless decision to drop himself and requested his opening partner, Gautam Gambhir, to let Tiwary bat at No. 4.
This decision allowed Tiwary to showcase his talent, scoring 104 runs in Chennai, helping India secure a 34-run victory. Tiwary remains indebted to Sehwag for this pivotal moment in his career, emphasizing that without Sehwag’s support, his life in cricket could have turned out very differently.