Manoj Tiwary upset with Bengal’s poor performance in the Vijay Hazare final

The captain of the losing team of the recently concluded Vijay Hazare trophy, Manoj Tiwary was of course upset with the approach of his openers Abhimanyu Easwaran and Shreevats Goswami, who went into the final with hundreds to their names.

Chasing a not so huge target of 218, Easwaran wasted 11 balls for his 1 before being run-out while Goswami’s 23 came off 46 balls. If you takes Goswami’s three fours out of this equation, he played 43 deliveries to score only 11 runs.

“I don’t what was going through their (openers) minds as it was a very slow start to be honest. Seven runs in 7 overs is unacceptable. Considering both scored 100 in the last game, it was very difficult to understand the mindset. 100 out of 100 times, I will take a target of 217. Once the scoreboard pressure was on us, we could have still made it but we lost wickets at regular intervals,” said Tiwary after the match.

A frustrated captain further said that Easwaran and Shreevats require guidance on how to win big matches. “This match shows they are still young at this level.

He explained that the two mentally need to be matured and made to learn how to win big matches. These are things individuals need to work. They got themselves under too much pressure. Maybe live coverage, the occasion but these are things at one level you learn on your own. Also, there need to be people who teach them.

Tiwary’s outburst of anger seems justified because no captain would be happy to see its players play a final so irresponsibly. The team put up a great show in the semi-final where it got the better of the Dhoni-led Jharkhand side, but the loss at the final was a rather shameful one, with no positives out of it for the losing team.