Manoj Tiwary has become the first politician in the country to register for the upcoming IPL mega auction. Tiwary, in the last assembly elections in West Bengal, was elected as an MLA and was later being inducted in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet as the sports minister.
One would think that while working as an MLA and the sports minister, Manoj Tiwary would probably not be able to find enough time to play professional cricket as well, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Tiwary has not just registered for the IPL auction, he was actually available for the Ranji trophy as well and was even picked in the Bengal squad before Ranji trophy was postponed.
Tiwary has played a number of games in IPL before and has even been an IPL winner in the past with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Although he hasn’t played a lot in the recent times and that puts serious question marks oer his form, he is still a very experienced batsman and since the Indian batsmen with international experience are always in demand in IPL, Tiwary might find a bid or two in the mega auction.
The last time Manoj Tiwary featured in the IPL was in 2018 when he was a part of the Punjab Kings squad. He didn’t have a great IPL that season, but a season prior to that, while playing for Rising Pune Supergiant under the captaincy of Steve Smith, Tiwary had blossomed and had played a key role in Pune’s qualification to the final.
Base price of Manoj Tiwary in IPL 2022 mega auction is 50 Lakh INR
Tiwary has set his base price at 50 lakh INR, which, given his experience and ability, is not a very high price and since he is not on the radar of many teams, it’s very much possible that he might be bought at his base price itself and turn out to be a great buy.
The reason why the experienced Indian batsmen are always in demand in IPL is the pitches in India, which demand a bit of batsmanship skill against spin bowling if the ball is gripping into the surface and turning.
When Tiwary was at the peak of his career and was playing for a successful unit of KKR, he did a fabulous job for them in the middle order on some of the tough batting surfaces, particularly in the 2012 season of IPL which KKR had won.
