Chennai, Dec 11: Playing just his sixth ODI, Manoj Tiwary scored 104 (retd. hurt) to help set West Indies an eventually successful target of 268 runs. Coming in to bat after the hosts had lost two wickets with just one run on the board, Tiwary received the Man-of-the-Match for his maiden ODI century.
Excerpts from the post-match presentation:
On his well-deserved Man-of-the-Match award and a brilliant century
Yes, I really enjoyed that. The wicket was weak; [the ball] was not coming on to the bat, it was on the slower side, so it made my game a bit easy as well. And I had a partner like Gautam Gambhir there to guide me so I planned accordingly built up [the innings].
On maintaining a good tempo through the innings
Yes, generally I play spin pretty well so I made sure if the loose balls came to my half, I took advantage [of it]. It all came good today.
On grabbing the opportunity of a spot in the playing XI
Yes, but I have to say that the team management has backed me really well and made me comfortable in the dressing room and made my job very easy. I felt confident and I have to thank all my teammates who have been really nice to me and made my game easy in the dressing room.
On suffering from dehydration and cramps
I didn’t hydrate too much prior to the match; that was my fault. I will make sure the next time I do hydrate [myself] enough so I don’t get cramps. I’d like to dedicate this award to all the people who have died in the Kolkata hospital tragedy. It was very unfortunate that such a tragic incident happened over there.
