Former India cricketer and the current Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary, on Saturday, in a furious rant on social media, called for Ranji Trophy, India’s premier domestic tournament, which has been running since 1934, to be scrapped. While Tiwary did not reveal the reason behind his post on social media platform ‘X’ owing to BCCI’s Code of Conduct, he indicated that several things are “going wrong” in the tournament.
Tiwary, a Ranji Trophy veteran, has amassed over 10000 runs in first-class cricket in 146 appearances since making his debut for Bengal in 2004. During his 19-year Ranji Trophy career, Tiwary led Bengal to two finals in the last three seasons, although they have been without a title since their maiden haul in 1989/90 season. He also played 15 international matches for India between 2008 and 2015, where he even scored a century in the ODI format.
On Saturday, Tiwary, who is also the sports minister of West Bengal, vented his frustration on social media saying that India’s domestic first-class tournament should be scrapped from the 2024/25 season as the Ranji Trophy has been “losing its charm”.
He tweeted: Ranji trophy should be scrapped off from the calendar from the next season onwards. So many things going wrong in the tournament. So many things need to looked into in order to save this prestigious tournament which has a rich history. It’s losing its charm and importance. Absolutely frustrated.”
Tiwary later went live on Facebook where he hinted at some of the issues that led to him posting that tweet before revealing that he will end his Ranji Trophy career at the end of the ongoing season.
Speaking on the social media handle, Tiwary initially highlighted the poor dressing room facility at the St Xavier’s College Ground in Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram where Bengal are currently in action against Kerala in their penultimate Elite Group B game.
He said: We are playing Kerala in a ground, not a stadium despite there being one built years ago, we are being asked to play in a ground on the outskirts of the State. The dressing rooms are such that you cannot even strategise properly since our dressing room and the opposite dressing room are so close to each other that you can hear what the others are saying. There is no privacy. I hope that this is looked into in the future.”
However, the Bengal captain remained tightlipped on the actual reason behind his tweet, and rather promised to reveal the details after ending his Ranji Trophy career following the team’s match against Bihar on February 16 at the Eden Gardens.
He said, “I cannot elaborate further as I am a player and the captain of a State and I have to follow the BCCI’s Code of Conduct. I cannot say anything publicly during the match.”
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