‘Never heard anybody…’ - Manoj Tiwary launches attack on Gambhir again

After India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, former Indian batter Manoj Tiwary verbally attacked head coach Gautam Gambhir, calling him a “hypocrite,” which led to a bitter situation. Digging further into the topic, Tiwary revealed the details of his fight with Gambhir, when the latter apparently abused him and former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly during a match between Delhi and Bengal. 

Appearing on the Lallantop, Manoj Tiwary stated that Gambhir gave him 'ma-behen ki gali' and that all media persons at the venue heard the incident clearly.

"I have never heard anybody give such abuses. If anybody abuses your mother, you should not take it lying down. I am not a person who can handle abuses quietly. I asked him, 'Gauti bhai, why are you talking like this?'. Then the over got over. Then I lost cool. He said, 'Meet me in the evening, I will thrash you'. I said, 'Why evening? let's do it now.' The match was in Delhi. No player ever talked to me in that way. All media persons present heard all the words that came out from his mouth," Tiwary said on Lallantop.

"The umpire came in between, and he pushed away him too. Then the over ended and I was at the non-striker's end. He came to mid-off and started abusing me again. Umpires can't do much. He is a big player, and they are afraid that he can use his influence against them. Then Sourav Ganguly was new to the Board. He started talking absolute nonsense about Sourav Ganguly. He accused him of using 'source' to enter. He even said that 'you are doing the same thing'. He said this on the ground.”

When interviewer Saurabh Dwivedi further quizzed him about whether he had taken the incident to Ganguly, Tiwary revealed that Ganguly didn’t react much, saying 'thik hai' and 'dekhta hu' in his casual, laid-back tone.

"He said 'thik hai'...the way he speaks, 'dekhta hu'. My job was to tell him. I think Gautam Gambhir has anger issues," Tiwary replied.

Back in 2010, when Gautam Gambhir was the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders following Sourav Ganguly's departure from the franchise, he tagged along with local boy Manoj Tiwary. At the time, Tiwary was doing well in domestic cricket and was picked in the Indian side. Even though Gambhir gelled well with Tiwary in the beginning, the latter believes that his success bred contempt in the captain's mind as he was getting more attention from the media.

"I would get scolded without any reason. I couldn't understand why he would target me. In fact, when I came to KKR in 2010, he and I got along nicely. But then he would lose his cool at me out of the blue. He would use very hurtful words. Then, when I started thinking about it, I realised that out of all the local boys at KKR, I was the one who used to perform consistently. And since I was a promising youngster, the media was giving me attention. So, he didn't react to it well. That is what I believe," Tiwary said.

"Once, we had a heated argument about my batting position at the Eden Gardens. I was upset and had gone to the washroom. He barged in and said 'This attitude won't work. Tujhe kabhi khilaunga nahi (I won't give you a game). This and that. I never liked such words. He was giving me a threat. Aaj ke baad, tujhe kabhi khilaunga nahi. Wasim Akram also came in. He was our bowling coach, so he calmed things down. He said 'You are the captain. Cool down'. He understood, he knew what was happening. He had said good things about my talent a few years ago," Tiwary said.