Manoj Tiwary Wants BCCI to Sack Gautam Gambhir as India’s Test Coach

Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary called for the removal of Gautam Gambhir as Test coach after a 408-run defeat led to a series whitewash.

Former cricketer Manoj Tiwary has demanded the BCCI remove Gautam Gambhir as India’s Test coach. This follows India’s 408-run defeat to South Africa in Guwahati, which resulted in a home series whitewash.

This was India’s second home series whitewash since Gambhir became head coach. In their 93-year Test history, India have suffered only three such whitewashes at home.

Tiwary Calls for Separate Red-Ball Coach

Tiwary stated that Indian Test cricket needs a separate coach for the red-ball format. He expressed strong doubts about Gautam Gambhir’s coaching process and strategy.

“Absolutely. There is no question about it (whether India should have a separate red-ball coach). It’s high time they take this decision to save Indian Test cricket. That’s the bottom line,” Tiwary said.

He claimed the recent series loss was predictable. Tiwary criticized the frequent team changes under Gambhir’s leadership.

“To be honest, the writing was on the wall. It had to happen. I knew things were not going well; the process they want to follow is not the right strategy or plan. There was a lot of chopping and changing, which was very evident. That could have been in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the home series against New Zealand, and now against South Africa,” Tiwary said.

Tiwary also dismissed the drawn Test series in England as a major achievement. He credited the existing team structure to previous captains and coaches.

“Apparently, Gautam Gambhir is claiming that he got a series draw in England with a young team. In my opinion, the England series draw was not a great thing for us. It wasn’t a good result; with the kind of players we had, it was England who made the mistake of playing too many shots on the last day. They could have easily won the series 3-1. There is no great achievement in his tenure so far,” said Tiwary.

“I saw a clip of him claiming that he has won the Champions Trophy and Asia Cup. This team was built by Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, and, before that, Virat Kohli. Even if Gambhir wasn’t the coach of Team India for these two tournaments, India would have won anyway because the team was already made. It is very unfortunate to see a white-ball mentor leading India as a head coach. If you don’t have the experience at the ground level, how do you expect to give results at the top level? It is next to impossible,” he added.