Harshit and Nitish responded to Manoj Tiwary's comments on Gambhir in strongly worded statements.
Tiwary questioned Gambhir's appointment as head coach, claiming the former opener lacks clarity and a definitive coaching style. His strongly-worded remarks came in the wake of India’s 1-3 drubbing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under.
Subsequently, KKR pacer Harshit Rana and their former captain Nitish Rana strongly refuted Tiwary’s claims, voicing their support for Gambhir through social media.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra, however, pointed out the uncanny similarities between Harshit's and Nitish's statements, saying they give a "Chat GPT product" feel.
"Harshit Rana and Nitish Rana voiced their support for Gambhir on social media. If you look at it, it looks like a Chat GPT product," Chopra said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
"There are many similarities in both statements, or someone wrote them and sent them to post on social media. It felt like both statements were written by the same man or machine. It could be Chat GPT, for all we know," he added.
Manoj Tiwary’s critical remarks on Gautam Gambhir created quite a stir in the Indian cricket fraternity. On Friday (January 10), the former Bengal captain explained why he termed the India coach as ‘hypocrite’.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Tiwary said Gambhir’s ‘actions don’t match his words’, citing that the latter selected Morne Morkel and Ryan ten Doeschate in his staff despite preaching the need for Indian coaches over the years.
“Why did I call him a hypocrite. It is because of one of his interviews if you remember. In one of the interviews, he said, ‘All these foreign coaches, all the guys who come from abroad, have no emotions, they have no feelings. They earn money and enjoy themselves’,” Tiwary stated.
“When the time was there for him to select all the Indian coaches and all the Indian-origin support staff, why did he put forward the names of Ryan ten Doeschate and Morne Morkel? He got everything he wanted but he is not able to produce the results. Actions don’t match his words, so I called him a hypocrite," he added.
Reacting to Tiwary's comments, Aakash Chopra said, "Manoj Tiwary is right about one thing: he talked about Gautam Gambhir's old comment about foreign coaches. Let's be fair: Gautam Gambhir selected Ryan ten Doeschate and Morne Morkel. I have to be honest. Both Morne and Ryan are people with a heart of gold. They are sincere and honest, but they are not Indian.”
"On the other hand, Manoj Tiwary talked about Gautam getting all the credit for KKR's success in IPL in 2012 and 2014. When discussing credit, you should give it, not take it. MS Dhoni never says anything, he stands on the completely opposite end, he never asks for credit but people give him credit. He has never asked for credit in a public forum, and people might not like him getting credit, but Dhoni has never asked for it himself," he further remarked.