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Former KKR Teammate Blames Gautam Gambhir for ‘No Stability’ As India Scuffle England In Old Trafford Test

Ashish Satyam

Last updated: July 26, 2025

3 min read

India have conceded 650+ runs in the ongoing fourth Test at Old Trafford.

Once again, the coaching tactics of Gautam Gambhir have come under scrutiny on the back of a few bizarre decisions in the ongoing five-match Test series against England. Former KKR teammate Manoj Tiwary has raised questions over Gambhir’s approach as India have broken yet another unwanted record of conceding 650+ runs in the fourth Test at Old Trafford.

Earlier, the Indian team had to sustain a defeat during the third Test match that was played at Lord’s. The visitors were almost there, but missed out on clinching a victory by just 22 runs. Currently, the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 stands at 2-1 in favour of the hosts.

Ahead of this series, Gambhir’s coaching record stands at four wins, eight losses, and a tie from 13 Tests. Since the time he took up the role of head coach, India have slipped from the No.1 to fourth spot in ICC Test rankings. They even failed to make it to the ICC World Test Championship 2025 Final after a series defeat Down Under.

Manoj Tiwary Blames Gautam Gambhir For Downfall In Old Trafford Test

Former India batter Manoj Tiwary castigated Gambhir after he opted for all-rounders over specialist players. The former player reckoned that this approach is vague and unsuitable in this format of the game.

“I have said it earlier also that Test match is a game of specialists, but we’re keeping them out and trusting all-rounders more,” Tiwary told IANS.

The likes of Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary have had a long history. The duo used to play together for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and later had an altercation during the Ranji Trophy match in 2015. The former Bengal player had accused Gambhir of abusing his family.

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As per the former cricketer, there has been a pattern in the selection of the players. He also referred to the Australia tour, where India played Devdutt Padikkal and Harshit Rana. Cut to now, Rana is missing, while Anshul Kamboj has been recently added to the playing combination.

“Since the arrival of head coach (Gautam Gambhir), there is a pattern of dropping underperforming players from the squad and adding players from the outside. This we’ve seen in the India-Zealand series, when we brought Washington Sundar from outside over Ashwin, who was in the squad. On the Australia tour, we played Devdutt Padikkal and Harshit Rana. Now, Harshit is missing and not among favourites anymore as we’re playing Anshul Kamboj in this Test”, he added.

Talking about Gambhir’s playing career, he collected over 10,000 international runs while starring in both the 2007 T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup Finals. Under his captaincy, Kolkata Knight Riders won the IPL twice. Later, he became the mentor of KKR, guiding them to win yet another IPL title in 2024.

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