Having made his international debut in 2008, Manoj Tiwary has represented India in only 12 ODIs and 3 T20Is so far. Despite hitting a match-winning ODI ton against West Indies in 2012, Tiwary was never given a consistent run to prove his mettle.
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No wonder, he feels that team selections should be broadcasted live. The former Bengal captain believes it will help assess if the selection processes are fair.
"Team selections should be aired live, so that everyone can see which selector is taking which player's name on which grounds. It will help us assess if the selection is fair or not. Normally, what happens is that when we players ask the selectors about why we were ignored, they tend to blame each other for it. So, to make things clear, it's necessary that the selection meeting is telecast live," Tiwary said in an Instagram chat with ABP live.
He further added that it is important for selectors to communicate with players when they're dropped from the team.
“If you don't do that, you'll have problems. Players will obviously raise questions. In the last couple of years, we've seen several players - Murali Vijay, Karun Nair and Shreyas Iyer for example - come out in the open and say that there was no communication at all (from the selectors and/or the team management) when they were dropped.”
Team India’s No. 4 conundrum in the limited-overs cricket was a topic of discussion leading up to last year’s World Cup. There were a lot of changes made to the crucial batting spot ahead of the competition, and yet the choices flattered to deceive during the showpiece event.
As per Tiwary, the selectors messed up the No. 4 slot selection and that cost India in the 2019 World Cup.
"They had four years to find a good No. 4, still they couldn't. Somewhere, we suffered due to this blunder in the World Cup semis. When they had so much time to finalise a man for the slot, this confusion shouldn't have happened. It shows that the selection lacked consistency," he said.
Tiwary also said that players from the East Zone are not given a fair deal in terms of chances for the Indian team.
"Power talks. More players are given chances from the state or zone to which the chief selector belongs to. There's nothing to hide about it. A lot of players from the East Zone don't get their due as compared to players from other zones. Take the example of Shahbaz Nadeem - it took a long time for him to get a Test cap despite performing well in domestic cricket for a number of years. Saurabh Tiwary is another example- in fact, there are many examples like that. If I start saying the truth, a lot of people in power will be upset. In our country, people tend to misuse power. A lot of players are afraid to speak out because they're afraid of the consequences. You should get an equal opportunity, but it doesn't happen, which makes me feel sad," he said.
"Post my retirement, if I become a cricket administrator, I'd ensure that no one who's deserving doesn't even get a chance," he added.
According to Tiwary, regionalism is an open secret in Indian cricket and he cited some examples to prove his point.
"Hanuma Vihari, who made his debut for India when MSK Prasad was the chief selector, Before MSK became the chairman of selectors, no one talked about Vihari in domestic cricket. He was scoring runs, but his team (Andhra) was playing in the Plate Division, and then for one year in the Elite division. However, his name came into the reckoning only when MSK Prasad (who's also from Andhra) became the chief selector."
"Similarly, when West Zone was in power, Wasim bhai (Wasim Jaffer) kept getting a lot of chances, and later it was the case with Gurukeerat Singh and Rishi Dhawan when North was in power."
He also spoke about favouritism in Indian cricket.
"There's favouritism in Indian cricket. There's no doubt that there are strong likes and dislikes. Those who've followed my career know that I'd sit out for 14 games after scoring a hundred (at Chennai against the West Indies). I'd never thought that after hitting a ton, winning the Man of the Match award in that game, I'd not be able to book a spot for me in the team. I couldn't understand this. Those 14 games took place over six months, in which India toured a lot. I was a part of the squad, but never got a game. It may be that the captain and the team management had different views about me, which I don't know till today," Tiwary said.
