Manoj Tiwary: Kolkata in the Knight Riders

Despite some good results of late,the fans here were sorely missing a regular local face in the playing XI,especially after Sourav Ganguly's exit from the team pre-season.

When the Knight Riders take the field against Kings XI Punjab at the Eden on Thursday,the Kolkatans will be able to identify with ‘their’ team more than they have been so far this season. Despite some good results of late,the fans here were sorely missing a regular local face in the playing XI,especially after Sourav Ganguly’s exit from the team pre-season.

On Thursday,however,they found a new hero in Manoj Tiwary. True,the win against the Delhi Daredevils was a team effort,but it was the Bengal boy Tiwary who stood out with his unbeaten 61 and helped ease the tension in the Knight Riders camp.

No wonder he was the first man Shah Rukh Khan sought out in the dressing room after the match. The Bengal Ranji team captain has been consistent in IPL IV,but he missed two golden chances to become a star in the first match against Chennai and then against Kochi at the Eden failing to finish off the game on both occasions. This was the reason why I was more determined to stay till the end against Delhi. And I would also try to do this in the matches to come, Tiwary said.

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Gautam (Gambhir) has clearly defined my role and now I have a settled batting order. No. 4 is a very important position in any form of cricket. The team management has shown faith in me and I am trying to justify it, he added.

Tiwary knows the vagaries of success all too well,having made the Indian team in 2007 after a very successful domestic season,only to see a shoulder injury on the match eve preventing his debut. Since then it’s been a stop-start career and the 25-year-old ought to be more consistent to figure in the national selectors’ scheme of things. Manoj will have to score runs consistently not 30s and 40s,but match-winning knocks like the one he played last night, a selector said. Tiwary has endeared himself to Kolkata,a significantly harder task however will be to impress the five wise men.

Haddin ruled out

Meanwhile,ahead of the match against Kings XI Punjab at the Eden on Saturday,the hosts received a blow as Brad Haddins finger injury ruled him out of the next game and probably for the entire tournament. Haddin was carrying the injury in his left hand from the Bangladesh series.