Saurabh Tiwary: ‘Hitting hard came naturally…if I were to play today, I wouldn’t be in the top 100’
Saurabh Tiwary, now secretary of the Jharkhand State Cricket Association, told The Hindu in Jamshedpur on October 24, 2026 that the IPL and modern training have transformed batting standards and that "if I were to play today, I wouldn’t be in the top 100." He said power-hitting has become dominant in contemporary white-ball cricket and cited examples of matches and players to make his point.
Tiwary, a left-hander who was part of the Virat Kohli-led Indian team that won the Under-19 World Cup in 2008, played three ODIs and compiled 8,076 first-class runs at an average of 47.22 with 22 hundreds and 34 fifties. He featured in the IPL from its inaugural edition in 2008 and won the Emerging Player award in 2010 after an unbeaten 52 off 31 in the semifinal for Mumbai Indians against Royal Challengers Bangalore; he also recorded a 38 not out against RCB in the Champions League T20 and later shared an innings with Sachin Tendulkar. Tiwary was elected to lead the Jharkhand State Cricket Association comfortably and took over as JSCA secretary last year.
On why he entered administration, Tiwary said some members of the JSCA encouraged him to stand and he agreed: "Some members of the JSCA approached me and said that I should fight the election. I said, ‘Okay, I will fight.’" He added, "I decided to contest because I wanted to do something for the players. And as a player, I know what they need. When you have played cricket for 24 years, you know that." He says he has been trying to help Jharkhand players since taking office and believes a cricket association exists for the players.
Addressing facilities and player care, Tiwary said Jharkhand’s male and female players are free to use the Ranchi stadium whenever they want and recounted support for injured cricketers: "One of our players, Rajandeep Singh, is not fit, but he has been coming to our Ranchi stadium for the last three months. We have never abandoned any of the players who are injured. We have given them treatment." He stated he wants Jharkhand to win tournaments the state has not yet claimed.
On the evolution of batting, Tiwary said, "Hitting hard came naturally to me. I liked to bat that way. But if I were to play today, I wouldn’t be in the top 100." He added that scoring patterns have changed — "Now even 250 cannot be defended" — and attributed the shift largely to mindset and the volume of T20 cricket: "It is all the mindset. People have played so much T20 cricket, they know they can come back into a match."
Tiwary expanded on how the IPL has altered opportunity and recognition, saying, "Now it is very difficult to predict which team would be good." He argued the league has increased India’s bench strength, giving players exposure and financial security: "If you perform well there, you are in the limelight. You can play for India. If you play for five or six years in the IPL, you have financial security. Your life becomes better." He also credited the BCCI: "The full credit goes to the BCCI."
Reflecting on the 2008 Under-19 World Cup and his own international career, Tiwary described the World Cup win as memorable but rued the final: "Please don’t remind me of it. I got run out. I will never forget that." He noted several teammates went on to play for India and acknowledged that breaking into a settled senior side was difficult; of his own performances he said, "I didn’t perform that well. And I didn’t perform that well in the IPL after 2010. But I have no regrets. Cricket has given me everything. Sometimes I even wonder if I deserve all this. Everything is cricket for me. Today, I am talking to you because of cricket."
Tiwary said he has already won the Vijay Hazare Trophy with Jharkhand but has not yet captured the Ranji Trophy or the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and he reiterated his aim for the state side to secure those titles while continuing to provide facilities and medical support to players through the JSCA.
