“So many things going wrong in the tournament” – Manoj Tiwary wants Ranji Trophy to be scrapped off from next season
Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary, who has represented India in 15 international matches, has raised eyebrows by calling for the Ranji Trophy to be scrapped from next season.
Without sharing the details, the West Bengal Sports Minister shared that a lot of things are going wrong in the prestigious tournament. The 38-year-old added that it requires a lot of reforms to save its rich history.
Tiwary, who has scored over 10,000 runs in his first-class career, recently wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
“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 announced his retirement from all forms of cricket last year. He, however, made a U-turn in his pursuit of winning the Ranji Trophy for Bengal, who last won the trophy in the 1989/90 season. Bengal has reached the finals in two out of the last three seasons.
In the ongoing season, Tiwary has amassed 216 runs in six innings, including a century against Assam.
Sunil Gavaskar unhappy with Indian players ignoring Ranji Trophy ahead of IND vs ENG Test series
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, meanwhile, vented his frustration at players for ignoring the Ranji Trophy ahead of the five-match Test series. That came India skipper Rohit Sharma and KS Bharat flopped with the bat in the first two games.
Gavaskar believes that the players could’ve played a couple of games to prepare for the long series. He recently wrote in his Mid-Day column:
“What the batters’ failure to get big runs also shows how important it is before a Test match series for both batters and bowlers to play some first-class games and get themselves in the right frame of mind for the longer format of the game.
The cricketer-turned-commentator added:
"The Ranji Trophy had started and it would have been perfect timing for the batters to get into the groove for the Test series by playing a couple of games.”
India will next play England in the third Test in Rajkot from February 15.