Gautam Gambhir-Manoj Tiwary rivalry set for extension beyond cricket field; info revealed

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir is among the top batsmen that India has ever produced. The southpaw, who retired from all forms of cricket in December 2018, is now into his second innings of sorts as a politician. Gambhir, who is a Member of Parliament from East Delhi, won the Lok Sabha 2019 elections as a BJP candidate from his constituency by a big margin of 695,109 votes despite being a first-time participant.

Gautam Gambhir to campaign for BJP in Bengal

As a politician, Gambhir is extremely busy with his work and social deeds and also as a cricketing pundit. Meanwhile, according to PTI, the former cricketer is set to join BJP Bengal's campaign in poll-bound West Bengal this week. Gambhir, who will carry out his first full-fledged campaign outside Delhi, will campaign in all eight phases of the assembly polls in the state as well as in three phases of the Assam assembly polls, said an aide of the East Delhi MP.

Notably, Gambhir had previously campaigned for former hockey player Sandip Singh in the Haryana assembly polls last year. The cricketer-turned-politician was also planning to visit Jammu and Kashmir during the District Development Council (DDC) polls in December 2020 but the plan didn't see the light of the day.

Interestingly, two of Gautam Gambhir's former teammates at the Kolkata Knight Riders, Manoj Tiwary and Ashoke Dinda are set to make their debuts in politics. While TMC candidate Manoj Tiwary would be contesting Shibpur in the upcoming Assembly Elections in West Bengal, Ashoke Dinda has been given a ticket from Moyna seat by the BJP Bengal subsidiary.

It is widely believed that Gambhir will campaign for BJP candidate Ashoke Dinda, which means the former Indian opener could invariably crusade against former teammate Manoj Tiwary. Gambhir is immensely popular in Bengal as he played with the KKR team for 7 years. Moreover, he also captained the KKR team to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 and the southpaw will look to utilize his IPL popularity to operate against Manoj Tiwary, thus reigniting an old rivalry.

It is no secret that the duo are not the best of friends despite having played with each other for KKR from 2011-2013, with Tiwary being more famous for hitting the winning runs in KKR's 2012 IPL final win over CSK. However, Tiwary had publicly questioned his exclusion from the team during an IPL 2013 game in Mumbai against the Mumbai Indians, which was crucial as KKR not only lost but were virtually knocked out of the tournament despite being defending champions.

But their relationship apparently soured further during a Ranji Trophy match at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground (now Arun Jaitley Stadium) in Delhi. Gambhir and his opposition West Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary were involved in an intense altercation. The brawl between the two was so fierce that the umpire had to come between them. In fact, Gambhir even pushed the umpire who was actually trying to get him out of the way to hit Tiwary. Moreover, the two cricketers even threatened to hit each other.

SOURCE: PTI