India head coach Gautam Gambhir has come under the scanner after the team’s poor show in the recently held Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under.

After the 1-3 drubbing at the hands of Australia, former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary called Gambhir a ‘hypocrite’ while also adding that his PR allows him to take ‘all the credit’ for his success.

Gambhir was appointed India’s head coach after Rahul Dravid’s tenure ended with the T20 World Cup triumph in June 2024. Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate joined him as assistant coaches while Morne Morkel as the fielding coach.

Nayar and ten Doeschate worked with Gambhir when KKR won the IPL last year while Morkel worked with him at Lucknow Super Giants.

Tiwary’s critical remarks on 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 Morkel and 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.

India have lost six of the 10 Tests since Gambhir took over as head coach, including the 0-3 humiliation against New Zealand at home.

Tiwary said Gambhir needs time in the coaching role to produce positive results and wondered how long would he be ‘persisted with’.

“It will take time for him because only if he learns from his mistakes and improves himself from the next series, then only positive results will come. We have to eventually see how long he is persisted with as the coach," he remarked.