Manoj Tiwary opened up about his fiery run-ins with ex-KKR captain Gautam Gambhir on the Lallantop show on YouTube. The two have often clashed on the ground, and recently Tiwary, a former India and Bengal batter, called him a 'hypocrite coach.'.
The duo was part of the 2012 IPL-winning KKR team, and as per Tiwary, he was verbally assaulted by Gambhir during his time in the IPL franchise.
Manoj Tiwary rehashed all of these occurrences, claiming that Gambhir targeted him unjustly.
"When a new player emerges, he is given space in the newspaper; maybe that is one of the reasons why he got angry with me. If I had had a PR team, I could have been the India captain today.
Once, we had a heated argument about my batting position at the Eden Gardens. I was very upset and had gone to the washroom. He barged in and said, 'This attitude won't work. Tujhe kabhi khilaunga nahi (I won't give you a game). This and that. I confronted him and asked him why he was talking that way. He was giving me a threat," Manoj Tiwary told Lallantop.
"Wasim Akram also came in. He was our bowling coach, so he calmed things down; otherwise, haathapai bhi ho sakta tha (There could have been a physical fight too). Akram said, 'You are the captain. Cool down. He understood; he knew what was happening. He had said good things about my talent a few years ago,” Tiwary added.
"I would get scolded without any reason. I couldn't understand why he would target me. When I came to KKR in 2010, he and I got along nicely. But then he would lose his cool with me out of the blue. He would use very hurtful words. Then, when I started thinking about it, I realized that out of all the local boys at KKR, I was the one who used to perform consistently. And since I was a promising youngster, the media was giving me attention. So, he didn't react to it well. That is what I believe," Tiwary said.
During the 2015 Ranji Trophy, the two battled on the field during a Delhi v Bengal match, and things almost got violent. Tiwary opened up about that incident as well.
"Leading up to our fight at the 2015 Ranji Trophy, he was angry at me. He thought I was wasting time. He was abusing from slips. Nobody should use such words. Ha, Ma-behen ki gaali. Then he said, 'Shaam ko mil, main tujhe maarta hu.'. (Meet me in the evening; I am going to thrash you.). I said, 'Shaam ko kyun abhi maar lo (Why evening?). Let's fight now)'. I was also strong. Sourav Ganguly was part of the cricket administration then, and Gambhir said, 'He used his jack to enter there, and you have come behind him,” Tiwary said.
"In KKR, we had an argument. I was constantly getting demoted in the KKR batting order. In one of the friendly matches against Australia, I was the highest scorer. I had scored 129, while he [Gambhir] scored 110. Even then, he lost his cool. I was applying sunscreen when he came to me and shouted, 'What are you doing here? Everybody else is on the ground'. Out of nowhere,” Tiwary concluded.
While Manoj Tiwary retired from cricket last year and has been a member of the TMC party in Bengal, Gautam Gambhir retired from all cricket in 2018, joined politics with the BJP party and now is the head coach of the Indian team.