‘You made sure guys who questioned you are not there’- Manoj Tiwary accuses Gambhir of forcing Ashwin, Kohli and Rohit to retire

Fans and experts were not happy with the recent developments in Indian cricket. Since Gautam Gambhir has become the head coach of the Indian team and Ajit Agarkar has become the chief BCCI selector, several senior players have been sidelined from the Indian side.

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Ravi Ashwin retired from international cricket in Australia, while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli called time on their T20I and Test careers. They last featured for India in March in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

But in a huge development, Rohit Sharma, who won the T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy as India captain, was replaced at the helm by Shubman Gill, ahead of the Australia three-match ODI series. Gill had previously replaced Rohit Sharma as the India Test captain and is the vice-captain of the T20I team.

“These guys will raise questions if they don't agree to a point.”- Manoj Tiwary on the retirements of Ashwin, Rohit, and Kohli after Gambhir took over

Manoj Tiwary, referring to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, accused the India head coach of mysteriously requiring veteran players to retire early in an interview with InsideSport. Additionally, he emphasized Ashwin, who retired in the middle of the BGT series, saying that he felt underutilized because he was benched for the majority of the games.

"If the senior players are there, if Ashwin is there, or if Rohit is there, then these guys have played so much cricket; these guys are much more established than the head coach or the other staff; these guys will raise questions if they don't agree to a point. You just made sure that these guys are not there, basically," said Tiwary.

Manoj Tiwary went on to say that Gambhir has been embroiled in controversy since taking over as coach, alluding to the retirements of Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli from the Test and T20I formats.

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“I have observed that since this coach took on the role, a lot of controversies have arisen. Many things that are happening are not good for Indian cricket. I believe that since the time he has been the head coach, Ashwin has taken a retirement. Rohit and Virat have also done so. Other things have happened, such as players being unexpectedly added to the squad and then being straight into the starting XI. We have seen that Gambhir has not been consistent," he added.

Manoj Tiwary concluded his remarks by stating that it would be a horrible judgment if Gautam Gambhir ignored Rohit Sharma for the 2027 World Cup, given that Rohit had already been ousted from captaincy.

"If these players feel that things are affecting their image and they are no longer wanted in the dressing room, then they might consider retiring. I believe they want to play. I think Gambhir won't take this big a call of not having these two individuals because, in the white-ball format, no one can deny the fact that these two have been outstanding. It would be a really poor decision if Gautam doesn't include these two in the scheme of things for the World Cup," Tiwary concluded.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be heading for the Australia tour, which begins on October 19.

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