India head coach Gautam Gambhir is under immense pressure after the team’s recent performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It was India’s second Test series defeat under his tenure after they had lost a home series to New Zealand previously.
Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has questioned Gautam Gambhir’s coaching experience and believes that he does not have enough coaching experience for a big international team like India since he has not coached any state or IPL team before.
Gambhir and Tiwary have played together for KKR before. Both were also involved in a confrontation in a Ranji Trophy match in 2015. In an interview earlier, Tiwary had called Gambhir a hypocrite. He has now revealed the reason behind using such words for Gambhir and also justified his statement.
Manoj Tiwary questions Gautam Gambhir’s coaching experience
While speaking to Hindustan Times, Manoj Tiwary spoke about India’s performance in Gautam Gambhir’s tenure as the team’s head coach. He called the defeat to New Zealand at home as “unacceptable” as it is something that hadn’t happened before.
“The results are there to be seen. When you lose three series in your short tenure, you have lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and, most importantly, you lost the home series against New Zealand. It was a big loss, as this had never happened before,” Tiwary said.
“A lot of things speak for themselves. Losing to New Zealand in a home series is not acceptable at all. In your short career, you also lost the ODI series against Sri Lanka,” he added.
Tiwary claimed that Gambhir has been unable to replicate the success India had under the former head coach Rahul Dravid. He also questioned Gautam Gambhir’s coaching experience at different levels.
“Winning and losing are part of the game, but results speak for themselves. You need to look at the reasons behind these losses. You have to understand and make sure those things don’t continue,” Tiwary noted.
“Why hasn’t he been able to provide the results which were expected of him? Rahul Dravid passed the baton to him. Rahul Dravid left on a high, but somehow that has not been carried forward, and that is purely due to lack of experience in coaching,” he reckoned.
Manoj Tiwary reveals why he called Gautam Gambhir a ‘hypocrite’
Manoj Tiwary was asked why he called Gautam Gambhir a ‘hypocrite’ in an earlier interview. The former justified his comments by citing Gambhir’s previous words on foreign coaches and claimed that the former India opener hasn’t been able to produce the results in his coaching tenure.
“Why did I call him a hypocrite? It is because of one of his interviews if you remember. In one of the interviews, he said, ‘All these foreign coaches, all the guys who come from abroad, have no emotions, they have no feelings. They earn money and enjoy themselves,’” Tiwary remembered.
“When the time was there for him to select all the Indian coaches and all the Indian-origin support staff, why did he put forward the names of Ryan ten Doeschate and Morne Morkel? He got everything he wanted but he is not able to produce the results. Actions don’t match his words, so I called him a hypocrite,” he explained.
While talking about his old altercation with Gambhir during the Ranji Trophy, Manoj Tiwary revealed that Gambhir abused his family and said bad things about the legendary captain Sourav Ganguly.
“When he fought with me during the Ranji Trophy match in Delhi, everyone heard every word from Gautam Gambhir’s mouth. Whether he was talking bad about Sourav Ganguly or whether he was abusing my family, he was protected by a few of the individuals. This is the PR I am talking about.”
Gautam Gambhir as India’s head coach
Under Gautam Gambhir, Team India have been struggling for wins, especially in Test cricket. India defeated Bangladesh 2-0 in his first coach tenure in Test cricket. However, the Men in Blue suffered a shocking loss to New Zealand at home in their next Test series.
India’s 0-3 defeat affected their chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship Final and they paid the price for it in the end. After the New Zealand series, India also lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia to be knocked out of the WTC Final race.
Apart from the Test series, India also lost an ODI series to Sri Lanka 0-2. It was India’s first ODI series defeat on Sri Lankan soil in 27 years. The upcoming tournaments, especially the Champions Trophy will be crucial to Gautam Gambhir’s coaching tenure.