'How can we forget Pahalgam? Human lives are more valuable than cricket TRPs and revenue' - Manoj Tiwary wants India to forfeit Pakistan clash in Asia Cup 2025 [Exclusive]

Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary, who retired from all formats in 2023 after a 19-year domestic career with Bengal, has broken his silence over India’s scheduled Asia Cup clash against Pakistan. In an exclusive conversation with CricTracker, Tiwary made it clear that recent events, especially the Pahalgam terror attack, should not be forgotten when making decisions on cricketing ties.

India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series since 2012, with encounters limited to multi-nation tournaments. While the Indian government has recently granted clearance for national teams to feature in events involving Pakistan, it has ruled out bilateral contests. This has led to India’s participation in the upcoming Asia Cup in the UAE, where the blockbuster India-Pakistan clash is slated for September 14 in Dubai. Furthermore, the former opened up on India's squad for the marquee event, believing the core looked solid but pointed out that one or two inclusions could have strengthened the side further.

Excerpts

Do you think India and Pakistan should regularly play against each other in the Asia Cup and ICC events?

No, I've earlier said that India should not play against Pakistan because the reason the terrorist attacks which happened in Pahalgam and earlier as well. See, the terrorists, they don't have any religion, to be honest. I believe they don't have any religion. They are individuals who are brainwashed to do these acts. But when we know that these terrorists are coming from the other side of our country, our neighboring country, and when you are aware that Pakistan government is not doing enough to curb this terrorist organization or making an effort to demolish or finish this terrorist organization within Pakistan, then obviously, you can see for yourself that they are not doing enough.So, when they are not doing enough or they are not trying to finish the terrorist organization, why would you want to play? We have seen so many innocent civilians lose their lives. Army personnel are losing their lives. And I always say that cricket should always go on, but not at the cost of lives, human lives. I feel human lives are more valuable than your cricket match or the TRPs, or the revenues. I think Pakistan has let down the government of India as well and not done enough to curb this terrorist organization.Until unless these things are settled within the countries or we can see the efforts which they are trying to erase the terrorist organization, we should not play the game of cricket between them. There are so many teams that can easily be played if you really want the revenue or the TRPs or whatever it is. We can bring Australia, England, and South Africa nowadays in a bilateral series and play. Why do you want to play with Pakistan, where we can see such things happening? How easily we can forget what has happened in Pahalgam or so many instances which has happened in our country? It is sad, unfortunate that cricket has taken over human life. It should not have happened

Looking at the recently announced Asia Cup squad, are there any changes or inclusions you feel should have been made?

I felt Yashasvi Jaiswal could have been part of the team, and also Shreyas Iyer. These two individuals should have been there as well. See, if you go to the squad, you can easily say there are a couple of individuals who have not done enough in the first-class cricket or international cricket, has got the opportunity pretty easily. Prasidh Krishna has been the highest wicket-taker in the IPL 2025. He was a Purple Cap winner. Sai Sudharsan as well. So he was the Orange cap winner. Since these two individuals are part of the Test team, I thought that their performance should have been rewarded with the opportunity. So even if somebody has to go out, whether it was... I don't know who they are going to go with as an opener, Abhishek Sharma, maybe, or XYZ.See, Sai Sudhansan has to come in because the highest or whatever you say, the biggest league in the world is IPL, where all the international players take part in it. And if you get an orange cap over there, then obviously you deserve to be in the T20 international on the team, knowing that he's already a part of Team India.I would have understood if someone had not made it to Indian team and has not played matches, and then you drop him despite being an orange cap, that is understood because you want that individual to have some experience behind his back. But when he's part of the team and also is an Orange Cap winner, he's not been able to get an opportunity. So that means that the coaches are going by their own thinking and own vision. So there is no criteria to get into the team. So a lot of selection which has happened over a period of time in last one and a half years, you see it has just It happened randomly, just out of the block, just out of the box. We have seen in the Test series in India, New Zealand, where we lost 3-0 in the Border Gavaskar series as well.A lot of selections have happened already after the Indian squad has announced and individuals have played in the A games, they have straight been brought into the Indian playing XI, which was a little unfair. I believe for more transparency and steadiness, and stability, you need to pick players from the squad that has been picked initially, not from outside the squad.And also in the case of Prasidh Krishna, he's also part of Team India. He's done really well in England now, and he was also the Purple Cap winner. So when you don't get an opportunity to play in big tournaments like an Asia Cup or a World Cup or anywhere else, so you feel a little let down. You obviously know that things are not going in the right direction. I would have loved to see these two individuals. I don't want to know from in whose place, but these two individuals deserve the first opportunity compared to the others.