Gautam Gambhir Rubbishes Reports of On-Field Altercation With Manoj Tiwary

Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir vehemently rubbished the reports of on-field altercation with Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary during their Ranji Trophy Group A encounter at Feroz Shah Kotla. (Ranji Trophy: Gautam Gambhir Abuses Manoj Tiwary, Threatens to Beat Him Up)

The said incident happened in 7.1 over when Tiwary walked out on to the field following Partha Sarathi Bhattacharjee's dismissal. Tiwary first took guard and was about to take strike. But he stopped the bowler and signalled at the dressing room to bring his helmet as a pacer was operating from the other end. (Gautam Gambhir Crossed The Limit, I Did Not Start The Fight: Manoj Tiwary)

Delhi players felt that it was a deliberate time wasting tactic. Gambhir, then stormed towards Tiwary and abusing the Bengal skipper. "Shaam ko mil tujhe maroonga (Meet me in the evening, I will hit you)," Gambhir had reported said.

However, later in the day, Gambhir in a statement said the new reports were factually incorrect.

"I was most surprised that certain sections of the media have reported that I pushed an on-field umpire during third day's play of Delhi-Bengal Ranji trophy game. It's factually incorrect," Gambhir said in his statement.

"At no point did I threaten or pushed any on-field umpires. Nor did I threaten to beat Manoj up. In fact, I attended match referee's hearing post the day's play where he accepted that he doesn't have any video evidence of me pushing the umpire.

"On the contrary the match referee conceded he had video evidence where Manoj is seen pushing Pradeep Sangwan. I am not complaining here but stating what the honourable match referee told me .

"Then, there are parts of the news story which claim to be quoting my verbal exchange with Manoj. May I humbly add here that the comments attributed to me are incorrect. And how a reporter who is sitting beyond the 60-yard boundary line quote something which is happening near the pitch?

"I am a proud cricketer who is trying to win Ranji Trophy for my state. For me it is a game of cricket where both teams are fired up to win and may the best team win," he added.