Former batter Manoj Tiwary has slammed India head coach Gautam Gambhir and said that he is ‘not the right choice’ for the high-profile job and is only capable of mentoring IPL franchises, citing the side’s recent failure to support his opinion.
Under Gambhir, India lost the ODI series against Sri Lanka for the first time in 27 years, and they also suffered a 0-3 whitewash by New Zealand at home.
Recently, India suffered a 3-1 defeat in the Border Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade. Tiwary who had had a dressing room altercation with Gambhir during their playing days in the IPL, took note of these reversals since his appointment as the coach.
“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. 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,” said Tiwary.
“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.”
“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 added.
Gautam Gambhir has earned coaching duties after leading Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title during the 2024 season. The former opening batter has mentored LSG and KKR in the IPL.
However, Tiwary questioned Gambhir’s credentials, saying that coaching and mentoring are totally different and cannot be confused with being the same.
“You tell me, before taking up coaching in the Indian team, did he have any coaching experience in first-class cricket or IPL or anywhere in the world? Did he coach any one of the teams? Mentoring and coaching are totally different.”
“That is where everyone mixes up. That is where fans mix up, and a lot of others mix up. Coaching and mentoring are totally opposite. When you don’t have experience, how do you expect to perform? That is what is happening right now, and the results are there for everyone to see,” said Tiwary.
“It will take time for him because only if he learns from his mistakes and improves himself from the next series, then only positive results will come. We have to eventually see how long he is persisted with as the coach,” he added.
Tiwary defended himself, calling Gambhir a “hypocrite” citing the latter’s old interview in which he had discussed why India should not consider employing foreign coaches.
“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.’ 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,” said Tiwary.
Gambhir’s head coach role comes under scrutiny after the latest setback in Australia that also saw India not qualifying for the final of the ICC World Test Championship since its inception. India is to host five five-match T20I series and three match ODI series against England before flying to Dubai for the Champions Trophy next month.
