On Tuesday, 18 December, the first player to go under the hammer from a pool of 351 cricketers at the 2019 IPL Auction in Jaipur was Manoj Tiwary. And the 33-year-old batsman, who came into the auction at a base price of Rs 50 lakh, found no takers.
A distraught Tiwary, who last played for India in July 2015, took to Twitter to express his disappointment with the snub from the T20 league’s franchises.
‘Wondering what went wrong on my part after getting Man of the Match award when I scored a hundred for my country and got dropped for the next 14 games on trot?? Looking at the awards which I received during the 2017 IPL season, wondering what went wrong???,’ he tweeted after the auction on 18 December.
On 19 December, Tiwary once again took to Twitter to thank his fans for the support they had shown, stating he would elaborate more about his ‘experiences and issues in the future’.
‘Good morning friends. Really appreciated the fact that you all have shown so much love and care through your replies to my last tweet. I still cannot digest the fact that I won't be part of IPL 2019 this season but I know that's reality in which I have to live now and move on from here and keep focusing on the things which I can control. But I will never shy away from my point of view on certain experiences and issues. And to the ones who have criticised me, I request you to first get into my shoes and then start making such comments. The experiences which I have gone through, I don't think anyone has gone through, and I will open up about it later in my future for sure, or maybe earlier. Once again, thank you and wish you all a wonderful day ahead [sic],’ wrote Tiwary in his second tweet.
At the IPL Auction for the upcoming edition, a total of 60 players were picked up by the eight franchises. Earlier, the teams had retained a total of 130 players from the previous season.
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