Manoj Tiwary, a former cricket player for India, has talked candidly about the difficulties he encountered while playing for his country and reaffirmed that MS Dhoni disliked him.

Tiwary, who played his final international match against Zimbabwe in July 2015, feels that the team management, which was led by then-captain MS Dhoni, did not support him enough and that he should have been given more chances to play for India because of his respectable all-around performance.

He had scored a brilliant century against the West Indies in 2011 in an ODI and then played his next one-dayer in 2012, taking four wickets against Sri Lanka.

Tiwary asserts that despite his steady play, he never received MS Dhoni's assistance, even though the player offered encouragement to a few other players.

“Everybody likes MS, and obviously, he has proven over a period of time with his leadership, and I always say that his leadership qualities were very good. But somehow, in my case, I don't know. He's the only one who can answer your question. But I think there were a couple of individuals whom he really liked and gave full backing to then. A lot of people know, but not everyone comes forward and speaks about it. So, there is a very strong liking and disliking that happens in cricket everywhere. So, I consider myself not liked one. He did not like me, maybe,” Tiwary told Crictracker.

Tiwary feels hard done by MS Dhoni’s decision and feels that despite his performances, the then-India captain didn’t support him enough and give him opportunities like some of his fellow cricketers.

"I think MS Dhoni, Duncan Fletcher, and the selectors will be the ones who will be able to answer that because till now, I haven't gotten any answer. Furthermore, I'm not someone who will call up the coach or the selectors or the captain at that time to answer me this. But I've earlier said that whenever I come across MS Dhoni, definitely I'll ask him what the main reasons were why I was not given the opportunity after scoring 100," he added.

Although Tiwary admires Dhoni's leadership abilities, he feels that if he had gotten the same amount of help that a few other players did at the time, his own career may have gone in a completely different direction.

Tiwary was candid about his experience when asked if he thought he received the same kind of backing from Dhoni as many other players.

“There are a lot of players who have a different version of how Dhoni used to back his players. In my experience, see, I can only share my experience, what has happened to me. If he had really backed his players, then he would have definitely backed me because I performed in that particular match and over a period of time,” Tiwary said.

MS Dhoni played a huge role in the Indian team’s transition phase in the late 2010s and backed players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Suresh Raina to establish themselves.

Manoj Tiwary played 12 ODIs, scoring 287 runs at an average of 26.09, including a century and a fifty. In 3 T20Is, he had limited batting opportunities, scoring just 15 runs.