Tiwary strikes confident note

Manoj Tiwary was done in by a Brett Lee scorcher during his ODI debut in Brisbane back in 2007-08 and he wants to move on.

Irfan Pathan won the man of the match award during the memorable Perth Test on that very tour and he too wants to move on.

Both are in the ODI squad for the tri-series and they are keen to make every chance count during the next one month.

“The 100 against the West Indies has been my breakthrough knock and I am more matured now. Having played against the likes of Dale Steyn in the IPL and batting against Brett Lee and James Pattinson at the KKR nets have certainly helped me,” Tiwary told PTI on Monday.

His team-mate Irfan also believes in action rather than resting on past laurels.

“I had a good international debut (2003) in Australia and I won the man of the match against them at Perth (2008). But that’s past now and it will be a new series where I will have to perform to the best of my abilities,” Pathan said over phone from Vadodara.

When both were asked the same question as to whether it is difficult for a new player to join a team that has been losing a lot, the two cricketers tried to put things into perspective.

“It takes one match to turn things around. I believe our team has the ability to do that and God willing that turnaround will happen in Adelaide,” Pathan remarked.

Tiwary on his part said, “The team may have lost a few matches, but in the past few months that I have been a part of the ODI set-up, the atmosphere in the dressing room has been fantastic. I have got a lot of help from the seniors which has made me feel settled.”

Asked about his preparation for Australia, Tiwary said, “My subsequent tours with the India ‘A’ team has helped me prepare well. I am confident that I can do well on bouncy pitches.”

With Baroda knocked out in the league stage, Irfan didn’t have too many competitive matches to fall back on and is looking forward towards playing club matches.

“I would like to get a bit of match practice before I leave for Australia. I am planning to play a few games in Baroda. I will work a bit on finetuning my batting and also like to bowl a few overs”, Irfan said.