Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary – it’s safe to say that the history that these two former India players share is not nice. The two have often clashed on ground and recently Tiwary, a former India and Bengal batter, called him a ‘hypocrite coach’ . The two played for Kolkata Knight Riders and had a fight there too. During the 2015 Ranji Trophy, the duo clashed on field during a Delhi vs Bengal match and things turned ugly. Manoj Tiwary revisited all those events and claimed that Gambhir targeted him unnecessarily.
“When a new player emerges, he is given space in newspaper, may be that is one of the reasons why he got angry with me. If had a PR team, I could have been the India captain today,” Manoj Tiwary told Lallantop.
“Once, we had a heated argument about my batting position at the Eden Gardens. I was very upset and had gone to the washroom. He barged in and said ‘This attitude won’t work. Tujhe kabhi khilaunga nahi (I won’t give you a game). This and that. I confronted him and asked him why he was talking that way. He was giving me a threat. Wasim Akram also came in. He was our bowling coach, so he calmed things down, otherwise haathapai bhi ho sakta tha (There could have been a physical fight too). Akram said ‘You are the captain. Cool down’. He understood, he knew what was happening. He had said good things about my talent a few years ago.”
Tiwary also opened up on the heated argument that he had with Gambhir during a Ranji Trophy game in 2015.
“I would get scolded without any reason. I couldn’t understand why he would target me. In fact, when I came to KKR in 2010, he and I got along nicely. But then he would lose his cool at me out of the blue. He would use very hurtful words. Then, when I started thinking about it, I realised that out of all the local boys at KKR, I was the one who used to perform consistently. And since I was a promising youngster, the media was giving me attention. So, he didn’t react to it well. That is what I believe,” Tiwary said.
“Leading up to our fight at the 2015 Ranji Trophy, he was angry at me. He though I was wasting time. H He was abusing from slips. Nobody should use such words. Ha, Ma-behen ki gaali. Then he said, ‘shaam ko mil, main tujhe maarta hu‘. (Meet me in the evening, I am going to thrash you). I said, ‘shaam ko kiu abhi maarlo (why evening? let’s fight now)’. I was also strong. Sourav Ganguly was part of the cricket administration then, and Gambhir said ‘He used his jack to enter there, and you have come behind him’.
“In KKR, we had an argument. I was constantly getting demoted in the KKR batting order. In one of the friendly matches against Australia, I was the highest scorer. I had scored 129, while he [Gambhir] scored 110. Even then, he lost his cool. I was applying sunscreen when he came to me and shouted, ‘What are you doing here? Everybody else is on the ground’. Out of nowhere.”
Gautam Gambhir is currently the head coach of the Indian cricket team.
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