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Manoj Tiwary has doubled down on his criticism of Gautam Gambhir, now accusing him of bias and favoritism for Harshit Rana.
Gautam Gambhir (L) and Harshit Rana.
Former cricketer Manoj Tiwary has doubled down on his criticism of Gautam Gambhir after Harshit Rana and Nitish Rana came out in the men’s head coach’s defense on Thursday. Tiwary accused Gambhir of ‘bias’ and favoritism, saying the players only returned his favor because he selected Rana over Aakash Deep in India’s Tests against Australia.
On Thursday, Tiwary chastised Gambhir about his lackluster start — three wins in ten Tests — as India’s head coach in an interview with News18 Bangla. Within hours of it coming out, Nitish and Harshit released similar statements on social media, calling Gambhir a selfless and able coach, and suggesting Tiwary’s remarks reflected his ‘personal insecurities’.
“Why wouldn’t Nitish Rana and Harshit Rana, for example, not support Gautam Gambhir?” Tiwary told Hindustan Times on Friday. “Harshit Rana played in Perth in place of Akash Deep. How was that possible? What did Akash Deep do wrong? He bowled fantastic spells against Bangladesh and New Zealand. As a fast bowler, you dream about bowling in friendly conditions, but you dropped him and went in with Harshit, who doesn’t have that much first-class experience. Akash Deep has fabulous records. That is a completely biased selection. That is why players will come out and defend him,” he said.
“I have said nothing wrong. This is PR which I am talking about. That never used to happen. When something or someone speaks the facts, people come up defending the individual, but they don’t know me. I only speak on facts. PR is quite evident,” he added.
Tiwary, who played under Gambhir at Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and even won IPL 2012 with him, said Gambhir has been ‘protected by a few individuals’ for a long time.
“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. The process of picking players and selecting them in the playing XI is not happening properly. Akash Deep was dropped in favour of Harshit Rana. If you thought Harshit was so good, why didn’t you continue with him for the rest of the series? Akash Deep doesn’t have a voice,” said Tiwary.
“How was Devdutt Padikkal included in the Test squad, he was out of the equation. How did he come into the mix when Abhimanyu Easwaran was there, scoring so many runs non-stop? He has scored so many runs. Why wasn’t he selected and not played at No.3. These are the kinds of things happening, and the results are there for everyone to see,” he added.
Both Nitish and Harshit have played under Gambhir’s mentorship at KKR and have previously credited him for their success.
