New Delhi, Sep 20 : West Bengal Youth Services and Sports Minister and former cricketer Manoj Tiwary feels that politics is more challenging than playing cricket. The cricketer-turned-politician joined Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) before West Bengal's legislative assembly election in 2021.

The ruling party fielded Tiwary from the Shibpur constituency, replacing party veteran Jatu Lahiri, who was a five-time MLA from the same constituency. The former Bengal captain lived up to the expectations and won the seat by a heavy margin to secure the fourth consecutive term for TMC from the seat.

"I joined politics to serve the people with a bigger platform. I believe in truth, even if I had to go against my party (TMC), I would not hesitate. But I am not an official spokesperson so can't comment on issues. There are persons who can talk on the party's behalf, which is a better way (to communicate). If you look at all the interviews before I entered politics, you'll hear the same kind of statements, and even now it's the same," the former batter told IANS.

"Politics is even more challenging than cricket. In cricket, you have to manage 20 people, but in politics, when you're running your constituency, there's a committee of 50 people. The voters in the constituency are 2.5 lakh, and managing so many people, whose thoughts and opinions can't always be the same, is not easy," he added.

Tiwary, a veteran of Indian domestic cricket, made his debut for Bengal in 2004 and has accumulated nearly 10,000 first-class runs at an impressive average of 48.56. With 29 centuries and 45 half-centuries to his name, the 37-year-old has also excelled in List A cricket, scoring 5,581 runs at an average of 42.28 in 169 matches.

Tiwary's international career, though brief, featured a memorable century against the West Indies in December 2011 during his 12-match ODI stint. After battling injuries and sporadic selections, he played his final series for India in 2014.

He will be playing in the LLC Season 3 for Harbhajan Singh's Manipal Tigers against Konark Suryas Odisha in the tournament opener in Jodhpur on Friday.

/IANS