New Delhi, India

Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has officially called time on his cricketing career at 37 as he brought down the curtains on an illustrious career. The decision came on Thursday (August 3) as he retires from the game with 15 international caps and more than 9,000 first-class runs. He represented Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and is a minister of state for Affairs of Sports and Youth in the Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress party government in the West Indies.

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Tiwary drops curtains

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"Goodbye to the game of cricket. This game has given me everything, I mean every single thing which I had never dreamt of, starting from the times when my life was challenged by different forms of difficulties. I will always be grateful to this game and to the GOD, who has always been by my side throughout," Tiwary said in an Instagram post.

Tiwary was instrumental in Bengal’s recent run in the Ranji Trophy where he almost ended the state’s 33-year drought for the title. Bengal lost in the final to Saurashtra in the final where Tiwary was the captain. He played a 68-run knock in the second innings of the match, but could not avoid the disappointment of loss. The Bengal politician would later thank other key members of his cricketing journey including his father Manabendra.

"Manabendra Ghosh, my father figure like coach has been the pillar in the cricketing journey. If he had not been there then I would have not reached anywhere in the cricketing circle. Thank you Sir and wish you a speedy recovery, as your health is not keeping well. Thank you to my Dad and Mom, they both never put pressure on me to focus on my studies rather they encouraged me to continue in cricket. Big thank you to my wife, @roy_susmita7 who has always been on my side from the time she came into my life," he added.

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15 international caps

In a brief international career, Tiwary represented India in 12 ODI matches and three T20Is scoring 302 runs. He was part of the Indian team that won the Commonwealth Bank series under MS Dhoni in 2008 and was an outside contender to be in the squad for the ODI World Cup in 2011. He last played for India in 2015 during the Zimbabwe tour having missed out on yet another World Cup in the same year.

During his time with Bengal, Tiwary was runner-up in the Ranji Trophy on four occasions and scored 9908 runs in 141 matches with a best of unbeaten 303.

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