India and West Bengal batter Manoj Tiwari has taken the decision to hang up his cricketing boots. The right-handed batsman represented India in both the white-ball formats, featuring in 12 ODIs and 3 T20Is scoring 287 runs in 12 innings 15 runs in 1 innings in them respectively. Tiwari also holds office as the Sports Minister of West Bengal. He captained the Bengal Ranji Team into the finals of the 2022-23 season.
Tiwary took to Instagram to share an elaborate retirement note. He expressed his gratitude to his former teammates, near and dear ones and his coach Manabendra Ghosh.
"Goodbye to the game of cricket. This game has given me everything, I mean every single thing which I had never dreamt of, starting from the times when my life was challenged by different forms of difficulties. I will always be grateful to this game and to the GOD, who has always been by my side throughout," Tiwary wrote.
"Manabendra Ghosh, my father figure like coach has been the pillar in the cricketing journey. If he had not been there then I would have not reached anywhere in the cricketing circle. Thank you Sir and wish you a speedy recovery, as your health is not keeping well. Thank you to my Dad and Mom, they both never put pressure on me to focus on my studies rather they encouraged me to continue in cricket. Big thank you to my wife, @roy_susmita7 who has always been on my side from the time she came into my life," he added.
Although Tiwary got his chances at the highest level sporadically, his ultimate moment of glory came in December 2011 when he slammed an ODI hundred against West Indies. Due to tough competition, he failed to cement his place in the national side but was a consistent run-getter in the domestic circuit as a tally of 9908 runs from 141 first-class matches, 5581 runs from 169 List A Games and 3436 runs from 183 T20s would suggest. He represented Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab, and Rising Pune Supergiants in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and was part of the IPL 2012-winning KKR side.