Bengal Sports Minister Manoj Tiwary Fuels State's Ranji Trophy Dream As Captain

"I am still minister of state for sports," Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary declared with a smile, as he rushed to attend his senior in the ministry Aroop Biswas during a visit to the Eden Gardens on the eve of the Ranji Trophy final against Saurashtra in Kolkata on Wednesday. It has been a roller-coaster ride for the 37-year-old Tiwary who was clueless about his career when his knees "gave up" and the whole world came under the grip of COVID-19 pandemic just after Bengal lost in the Ranji final against Saurashtra in 2020.

With the pandemic disrupting the sporting calendar, Tiwary, battling issues in both knees, found his career at the crossroads when he got an offer from the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to join Trinamool Congress ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls.

He readily took up the offer, won Shibpur constituency in Howrah district and succeeded his senior Bengal teammate Laxmi Ratan Shukla as the Minister of State for Sports.

Two years down the line, 'Tiwary 2.0' is back as captain, reuniting with Shukla, who is now Bengal head coach. The duo conjured up a winning mantra to take Bengal to the brink of a third title, and their first since 1989-90.

"I joined politics during a time when nobody was sure of when the Ranji Trophy was going to happen again. Both my knees had given up because of cartilage issues, so India comeback was not realistic," Tiwary recalled the COVID-19 days in an interaction with PTI.

It was in the build-up to the 2019-20 season, India prospect Abhimanyu Easwaran took over the charge of captaincy from Tiwary.

"I always supported him as a player. But somewhere down the line, I still had the thirst to win the title for Bengal," said Tiwary, who has been part of Bengal's three losses in