There are moments when you feel that the world out there is most unfair to you until you meet a 29-year old cricketer from Bengal named Manoj Tiwary, the man destiny blessed with bucketful of disappointments. Just to mention a few of those — he was injured on the day he was supposed to make his international debut and despite being termed the ‘next big thing’ of Indian cricket, he didn’t play a Test.
In the limited opportunities that he got in one-day cricket he made it count with a hundred, but post that he was benched for 14 games on a trot. Then he picked up four wickets and was dropped again. The 29-year-old is so much running out of time and is so desperate for India berth that he is ready to even change his surname.
You read it right. A source close to Tiwary, informed the writer that the batsman is soon going to change his surname to Sharma. The writer met Tiwary and asked him the reason for such a big step (as big step as Yousuf Youhana becoming Mohammad Yousuf).
“The world has been unfair to me. I have done everything as a batsman and sometimes even as a bowler to be there in the Indian team. But now I have discovered there’s nothing wrong with my batting. The only thing went wrong is my surname isn’t ‘Sharma’. I believe in working hard and working on my weaknesses. I will be known as Manoj Sharma from now on. Hopefully I will get as many chances as Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma or play a Test in Australia like Karn Sharma did,” said Tiwary (let’s call him that till the affidavit happens.)
A desperate Tiwary added, “This may even give me at least an opportunity to at least try and be a one match hero like Joginder Sharma. And besides, people will finally start considering me as a talent too!”
Considering Indian Test captain Virat Kohli’s love for the surname ‘Sharma’, obviously for non-cricketing reasons might even boost Tiwary’s case. All we can say it’s a smart move. Hopefully, he will return to Indian team and make double hundreds like another Sharma does or at least become a Twitter and satire celebrity if he fails.
Tiwary ended the conversation with a famous Shakespeare quote, “There’s nothing in the name!” And added further, “Because everything’s in the surname!”
Somewhere around 300 km away from Kolkata in a city called Jamshedpur, another Tiwary is thinking of the same plan after getting a call from Manoj. Don’t be surprised if Saurabh Tiwary becomes Saurabh Sharma as well.
Please note this is a humour article — work of pure fiction
[Devashish Palkar, an MBBS student, A sports afficionado, news addict and a patient of OCSD ( Obsessive Compulsive Satirical Disorder )]
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