• Home
  • Who Said What
  • Gautam Gambhir Accused Of Handpicking Yes Man Captain Gills Selection Under Scanner

Gautam Gambhir Accused Of Handpicking 'Yes-Man' Captain; Gill's Selection Under Scanner

Akshita Patel

Gautam Gambhir accused of favouritism [Source: @KkrKaravan, @Giilflow77/X.com]Gautam Gambhir accused of favouritism [Source: @KkrKaravan, @Giilflow77/X.com]

Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has accused head coach Gautam Gambhir of favouritism in team selection for the Asia Cup 2025. Tiwary claims Gambhir prefers “puppet captains” who follow his orders, and that this theory explains Shubman Gill’s sudden return to India’s T20I side and his appointment as vice-captain.

Gill, who enjoyed a dream run earlier this year in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with 754 runs, made his comeback as an opener for the Asia Cup.

His promotion to vice-captain pushed Sanju Samson down the order, despite Samson’s successful opening partnership with Abhishek Sharma. This reshuffle has left many fans and experts puzzled. 

Manoj Tiwary Levels Serious Accusations Against Gautam Gambhir

Meanwhile, former cricketer Manoj Tiwary has slammed Gautam Gambhir for breaking India’s T20I team’s rhythm. In an interview with Inside Sports, he said Gambhir picked Gill as his ‘puppet captain’ who would follow his vision without question.

"The reasons are well known. It’s an open secret that he wants a captain who will listen to him. Along with that, Gill is so good technically while he’s batting and at adjusting in every format. So he’s got a guy who’s going to listen to him. Gill has never led Team India before this England series, right? So, he (Gambhir) doesn’t want to get into any conflict. If the coach brings him in, he’ll obviously listen to him,” Tiwary said.

Tiwary also admitted that Gill is a class player with proven success in the IPL but said the change made little sense, as Samson had settled himself in the opener role.

“But you have to see that before Gill was in the T20I squad, in Zimbabwe and against Bangladesh, we saw Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson give you the starts which we never imagined as cricket fans or cricketers, or Team India, would ever show that sort of an approach to a T20I game. When these two individuals have given you such performances, scoring hundreds, then why would you want to change that pair and bring in Shubman Gill?” he added.

Samson had scored 3 hundreds in 5 innings in 2024 and formed a dangerous opening pair with Abhishek Sharma. Together, the duo gave India explosive starts against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, hitting 5 centuries and 3 fifties between them in the last 12 months.

On the other hand, Shubman Gill’s form in the Asia Cup 2025 has so far been disappointing. He has scored only 30 runs, falling short of expectations.

Samson, on the other hand, has been dropped to no.5 in the batting order and is yet to get a chance to bat.