Former Team India batter Manoj Tiwary dismissed the talks about MS Dhoni backing players as the captain during his career as well. However, he played only 12 ODIs in his international career, spanning eight years from 2008 to 2015 as well. After scoring two on his ODI debut in 2008, Tiwary did not get to play for India until 2011. However, after four low scores, he scored his maiden century against the West Indies at the end of the 2011 season as well.
He scored 21 and 65 in his next two innings in 2012, but dropped from the side until the middle of 2014. After a lone outing against Bangladesh, Tiwary was once again dropped from the playing XI for the next year before playing his final three ODIs in Zimbabwe in 2015 as well.
Manoj Tiwary told Crictracker: “No, I don’t think so. See, reputation, perception is something that people go by. But I’m the one, and there are a few others as well in the team who have gone through the period of his tenure as well. So there are a lot of players who have a different version of how he used to back his players. 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.”
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“I think there were a couple of individuals whom he really liked and gave full backing at that point in time. 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 liking one. He did not like me, maybe,” he further added.
Manoj Tiwary also said several senior players backed him in the 2011-12, but the final decisions on selections remained with MS Dhoni as well. He also mentioned Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, and
Yuvraj Singh, who constantly backed him.
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“I’ve got backing from Virender Sehwag. I’ve always said that Viru paji is one of the individuals who has really backed me. nd Sachin [Tendulkar] Paji as well, Yuvraj Singh as well, Harbhajan Singh as well. A lot of seniors have back me during that time, but they have limited control over the decision-making. At that time, the only decision-maker was MS Dhoni,” said Tiwary.
“And also the foreign coaches who come up, they just go with the captain because nobody wants to go to war with the Indian captain because their jobs are on the line. So apart from him, I think everyone has backed me, supported me. So I won’t say that seniors have not backed me, just that the decision maker who was MS Dhoni, I didn’t get the backing, which I was hoping to get,” Manoj Tiwary concluded.
