Manoj Tiwary, former India and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) cricketer, has stated that Gautam Gambhir, his ex-India and KKR teammate, must be sacked as the Indian team head coach if the BCCI wants to save Indian cricket.

His statement comes after India suffered a 0-2 whitewash at home against South Africa, the second one at home under Gautam Gambhir. The first was the 0-3 Test series whitewash against New Zealand in 2024, India’s first Test series loss at home since 2012.

South Africa won only their second Test series in India since 2000, and this has led to severe criticism of Gautam Gambhir, under whom India has lost the majority of Tests since he took over after June 2024.

Tiwary believes there is no question that India needs a different red-ball coach, despite reports that the BCCI is unlikely to take any quick action on Gambhir's future.

“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 was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

Tiwary also added that he is not surprised by the result of the India-South Africa series because it had to happen. As per him, the process Gambhir is following is not right.

“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, or now against South Africa," Tiwary said.

“Apparently, 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.

Tiwary also pointed out that while Gambhir claimed that India won the Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup under his guidance, the reality was that the team that won the Champions Trophy was built by Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid.

“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.

After the humiliating Test series defeat, India will shift focus to the white-ball series. The three-ODI series will begin on November 30, and the five-T20I series will begin on December 9.

(Hindustan Times inputs)