Former India player-turned-TMC leader Manoj Tiwary has targeted Gautam Gambhir, current head coach of the Indian team and ex-BJP leader, saying that he is a big hypocrite on the subject of India vs. Pakistan matches, now that the two sides will clash in the 2025 Asia Cup.
India and Pakistan, who don’t play bilateral series, have only clashed in ICC and ACC events. However, there were calls for India to boycott playing against Pakistan in these multi-nation events as well, especially after the Pahalgam terrorist incident, where multiple tourists lost their lives to an attack by a Pakistan-based group.
The public sentiment was against any sort of engagement with Pakistan after Operation Sindoor, which the Indian government launched against Pakistan after it conducted a drone attack in May this year. Even the India Champions team refused to play Pakistan twice in the recent World Championship of Legends (WCL 2025) in the UK.
But the Indian team is set to play Pakistan on September 14 in the UAE in the Asia Cup 2025 and might play them twice more if both teams qualify for the next stage of the tournament and the final.
In the midst of this, Tiwary criticized Gambhir for his "hypocrisy," dragging Gambhir's previous comments into the issue, stating the present head coach, back in the day, had spoken about not playing against Pakistan till the cross-border terrorism ceases.
It should be noted that Gambhir made the same declaration following the Pahalgam terror assault earlier this year. However, the Asia Cup tie is on for now, and it remains to be seen what the head coach has to say in the days leading up.
“I always felt that he's someone who is a hypocrite. He's a hypocrite because he's the one who said that India, when he was not the coach of Team India, said that India and Pakistan should never play a match between them. What will he do now? He's the coach of the team that's going to play Pakistan in the Asia Cup,” Tiwary told CricTracker.
“Why can't he just resign and say that I will not be part of the team India because you are playing with Pakistan?” he added.
Last week, the India Cup team was revealed. The team will be led by Suryakumar Yadav, with Shubman Gill acting as his deputy. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer have been excluded from the squad. The reserves include the left-handed hitter.
An old video clip went viral on social media as soon as the squad was made public. Gambhir defended Jaiswal's inclusion in the T20I starting lineup. It should be noted that the video was taken before Gambhir was appointed head coach of India.
Tiwary brought this video clip into the equation as he called out Gambhir for once again not standing up to his words and doing the exact opposite after becoming the head coach.
“He's the one who said that Yashasvi Jaiswal is one of the players who is the future of Team India, and also, he's someone who will not be kept outside T20. He should not be kept outside T20. He should be given a longer run. And now, he's not there in the team.
So, a lot of things apart from these couple of statements, where he said he has just done the opposite. So, I always felt that he's a hypocrite, and he's always been a hypocrite,” he added.
India and Pakistan are in Group A with Oman and the UAE. India will play the UAE in their first game of the Asia Cup 2025 on September 10.
