Manoj Tiwari Big Statement: Questioning the recent performance of the Indian team, former batsman Manoj Tiwari on Thursday said that Gautam Gambhir may be an expert in advising the Indian Premier League franchise, but is not the ‘right choice’ to coach the national team. After Gambhir became the coach, the Indian team had to face ODI series defeat in Sri Lanka for the first time in 27 years. The team then faced a 0-3 defeat in the Test series against New Zealand at home. The Indian team had lost 0-3 in the three-match series for the first time on its own soil. The team recently lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia for the first time in a decade.

Tiwari had an altercation with Gambhir in the dressing room in 2013 during his IPL playing days. Then both were included in the team of Kolkata Knight Riders. Citing Gambhir’s failure as a coach, he said in an interview to PTI, ‘See, the result is in front of you. Results don’t lie. Statistics are not wrong. The record speaks for itself.

Tiwari, Minister of State for Sports, West Bengal Government, raised questions on Gambhir’s coaching style and said, ‘He could not carry forward the good work of Rahul Dravid.’ He said, ‘It will take a lot of time for Gambhir to put things right or get back to winning ways. He has no experience of coaching players of a team like India. To be honest, I don’t think he has any experience of coaching in Test or ODI cricket.

Tiwari believes that former players like VVS Laxman and Sairaj Bahutule have enough experience in coaching and would have been ideal choices to coach the Indian team. He said, ‘I think former players like VVS Laxman and Sairaj Bahutule were in line to become the next head coach. These people have been with NCA (National Cricket Academy) for the last many years. When Rahul Dravid was not available, someone like him should have been the next coach.

He said, ‘That procedure was being followed in Dravid’s case but this time how Gambhir came, no one knows. Therefore, it was certain to get such a result. Tiwari said, ‘When someone who has no experience comes and does the work, it does not matter how aggressive he is. In such a situation, this result is certain.

He said, ‘The decision to appoint him as head coach just by looking at the IPL results was wrong. In my opinion this was not the right choice. He criticized Gambhir giving full credit for KKR becoming IPL champion and said that head coach Chandrakant Pandit and the players also had an important contribution in the team’s success.

He said, ‘There is no doubt that Gambhir boosted the morale of players like Andre Russell and Sunil Narine who were going through a bad phase, but if he was doing all the work then what was Chandrakant Pandit doing? Are you trying to say that Chandrakant Pandit as coach and other players had no role in the success of KKR?

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