Former India star accuses MS Dhoni of favouritism

Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has alleged that legendary captain MS Dhoni practiced favouritism during his tenure. Tiwary, who made his India debut under Dhoni in Australia in 2008, represented the country in 12 ODIs and 3 T20Is. According to him, he never received any support from Dhoni. While injuries did impact his career, Tiwary feels Dhoni’s preference for a couple of other players played a major role in cutting short his international run.

Tiwary last featured for India in an ODI against Zimbabwe in 2015, when Ajinkya Rahane was leading a second-string squad in the absence of Dhoni and other senior players.

Despite scoring his maiden ODI century against the West Indies, Tiwary was dropped from the XI without explanation. On his return to the side during the Sri Lanka series, he won the Player of the Match award for a four-wicket haul and followed it up with a half-century in the very next game—yet he was again sidelined.

When asked why he vanished from the playing XI after such performances, Tiwary said, "That is something only MS Dhoni, Duncan Fletcher, and the selectors can answer. To this day, I haven’t received any explanation."

He added that if he ever comes face to face with Dhoni, he would directly ask him the reason. "I was never the kind to call up coaches, selectors, or captains to question them. But I’ve always said that if I meet MS Dhoni, I’ll definitely ask him why I was left out after scoring a century. Till today, I have no idea what went wrong or what their thought process was. Only those making the decisions back then can answer that," he said.

Many cricketers have credited Dhoni for backing young players both in Team India and later at Chennai Super Kings. Tiwary, however, feels he was not one of those who benefited.

"No, I don’t think so. Reputation and perception are one thing, but I can only speak from my personal experience. There are others too who saw that period differently. If Dhoni truly backed players based on performance, then I should have been supported. I came back into the XI, picked up four wickets against Sri Lanka, scored some runs, and then made 65 in the next game. But after that, I was again dropped. Performance was supposed to be the ultimate criterion, but in my case it wasn’t. I can’t say for others, but I was not backed," he explained.

Tiwary went on to say that Dhoni simply did not like him. "Everyone admires MS Dhoni, and I also acknowledge that his leadership qualities were exceptional. But in my case, I feel he didn’t like me. That’s the only explanation I can give. I believe there were a couple of individuals he was very fond of, and they received his full backing. Many know this, though not everyone talks about it openly. Strong likes and dislikes exist in cricket everywhere. Unfortunately, I fell into the ‘disliked’ category," the Bengal veteran remarked.