Manoj Tiwary, the former Indian batter, has openly questioned Gautam Gambhir’s strategies. He is critical of Gambhir’s player selection and his approach to red-ball cricket, especially as India competes against England in the fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Old Trafford.
India’s recent 22-run loss to England at Lord’s put them behind 1-2 in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series. Despite a strong effort by Shubman Gill’s team, they struggled on the final day. Ravindra Jadeja’s efforts weren’t enough to secure a win.
With this defeat, Gambhir’s coaching record stands at 4 wins, 8 losses, and 1 draw in 13 matches across all formats. Since he took the job in July 2024, India’s Test ranking has dropped from No. 1 to No. 4. They also missed the ICC World Test Championship 2025 final after losing a series in Australia.
Tiwary questions Gambhir’s emphasis on all-rounders over specialist players, believing this strategy doesn’t suit the Test format.
I’ve said before that Test matches are for specialists, but we are leaving them out and depending on all-rounders too much, Tiwary told IANS. Since Gautam Gambhir became head coach, underperforming players are being dropped and players from outside are being added. We saw this in the India-Zealand series, when Washington Sundar was chosen over Ashwin, who was already in the squad. On the Australia tour, we played Devdutt Padikkal and Harshit Rana. Now, Harshit is out, and Anshul Kamboj is playing in this Test.
Tiwary stressed the need to support players consistently instead of making frequent changes.
There’s no consistency, and he doesn’t seem to trust his players for very long. He can’t win a Test match by playing part-time all-rounders. I believe in specialist players. I have played for a long time.
Tiwary pointed out tactical errors, specifically the decision to exclude wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav. I think Kuldeep Yadav should have played in this and the last match. Wrist-spinners often do well against England because their batters struggle to read them. We missed an opportunity there, he said, and added that our batters Sai Sudharsan, KL Rahul, and Yashasvi Jaiswal didn’t score high enough. They were restricted to 50-60 runs which also made things difficult for us.
Gambhir, known as one of India’s best batters from 2008 to 2011, is respected for his determination. He has scored over 10,000 international runs and made important contributions in the 2007 T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup finals. As a leader, he led Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles as captain and one as a mentor before becoming India’s head coach.