Manoj Tiwary has openly lambasted Harshit Rana and Nitish Rana for playing “PR” games for Gautam Gambhir following their social media outburst in response to his vehement attack on the Indian cricket team’s head coach.
Following Team India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 fiasco in Australia, the former Indian cricketer made some contentious remarks about Gambhir.
Manoj Tiwary and Gautam Gambhir’s rivalry recently took an explosive turn, reigniting feelings that dated back to a furious incident during a Ranji Trophy match between Bengal and Delhi in 2015. Despite previously sharing the Kolkata Knight Riders’ dressing room in the IPL, they have remained at odds, and Tiwary has questioned his position as India’s head coach.
Manoj Tiwary accuses Gautam Gambhir of bias and hypocrisy
Manoj Tiwary didn’t mince words, slamming Gambhir for his lack of coaching expertise and suggesting that veterans like VVS Laxman and Sairaj Bahutule would be better suited to the post.
Tiwary called Gambhir a hypocrite for hiring foreign coaches Morne Morkel and Ryan ten Doeschate, despite earlier denouncing foreign coaches’ role in Indian cricket. He also chastised Gambhir for assuming sole credit for KKR’s IPL triumph, instead citing players such as Jacques Kallis, Sunil Narine, and himself.
Harshit Rana and Nitish Rana, both of whom played for Gambhir at KKR, were outraged by the Bengal MP’s unfounded attack on the Indian head coach.
Why did Harshit Rana played before Akash Deep?- Manoj Tiwary says Gautam Gambhir favored KKR pacer
Tiwary claimed that Harshit Rana and Nitish Rana are only conducting PR for Gambhir, who favored them throughout their time at KKR. He further accused Gambhir of favoritism, claiming that Harshit supported him solely because he exhibited partiality in team selections during India’s Test series against Australia.
“Why wouldn’t Nitish Rana and Harshit Rana, for example, not support Gautam Gambhir? 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,” Tiwary told Hindustan Times.
“Akash Deep has fabulous records. That is a completely biased selection. That is why players will come out and defend him. I have said nothing wrong. This is the PR that 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.
Harshit Rana played the first two Tests for India before being dropped in favor of Akash Deep.
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