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Manoj Tiwary has hinted at possibly retiring from first-class cricket at the end of this domestic season. While talking to Cricinfo, Tiwary spoke about how he wants to win a Ranji Trophy title for Bengal and then retire. Tiwary was talking after Bengal defeated Uttar Pradesh by six wickets where he was not out at 60 while batting with Anustup Majumdar to chase 257 in the fourth inning.
The 37-year-old reflected on his career and spoke about how his team has been playing incredible cricket over the last few years. He praised the batting department for consistently putting up big runs. But stated that the team needs to reach the next level to win the elusive trophy again.
"We have to play like champions. We won today, but it's not like we played exceptional cricket," Tiwary told reporters after the match. "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," he added.
Tiwary then spoke about being relaxed as the captain as he was replacing Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was called to be in the Indian national team for the ongoing Test series against Bangladesh. The 37-year-old had stepped down from the leadership role in the 2018-19 season as the team needed to groom a new captain for the future.
"I am quite relaxed about leading the team. When I stepped down as the first-class captain of Bengal [during the 2018-19 season], 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," Tiwary added.
