With tensions running high before India’s Asia Cup 2025 clash against Pakistan, former India batter Manoj Tiwary has openly criticised national team head coach Gautam Gambhir. Speaking ahead of the September 12 encounter, Tiwary went as far as labelling Gambhir a “hypocrite” due to his earlier stance on Indo-Pak cricket ties. Gambhir, once a vocal critic of India facing Pakistan in multinational tournaments because of strained bilateral relations, now finds himself in charge of the side that is set to take on their arch-rivals. Tiwary believes that Gambhir’s current position contradicts his past views.

“I always felt that he’s someone who is a hypocrite,” Tiwary told CricTracker. “He’s a hypocrite because he’s the one who said that India, when he was not the coach of Team India, should never play against Pakistan. What will he do now? He’s the coach of the team that’s going to play Pakistan in the Asia Cup. Why can’t he just resign and say that I will not be part of Team India because you are playing with Pakistan?”

Explaining his stance further, Tiwary highlighted his belief that cricket between India and Pakistan should not continue unless Pakistan takes concrete measures against terrorist organisations operating from its soil.

“So, when they are not doing enough or they are not trying to finish the terrorist organization, why would you want to play? We have seen so many innocent civilians lose their lives. Army personnel are losing their lives. And I always say that cricket should always go on, but not at the cost of lives, human lives. I feel human lives are more valuable than your cricket match or the TRPs, or the revenues. I think Pakistan has let down the government of India as well and not done enough to curb this terrorist organisation,” the 39-year-old explained.

Tiwary added, “Until unless these things are settled within the countries or we can see the efforts which they are trying to erase the terrorist organization, we should not play the game of cricket between them. There are so many teams that can easily be played if you really want the revenue or the TRPs or whatever it is. We can bring Australia, England, and South Africa nowadays in a bilateral series and play. Why do you want to play with Pakistan, where we can see such things happening? How easily we can forget what has happened in Pahalgam or so many instances which has happened in our country? It is sad, unfortunate that cricket has taken over human life. It should not have happened.”

India-Pakistan schedule in Asia Cup 2025
India and Pakistan, placed together in Group A along with UAE and Oman, could potentially face each other up to three times in the tournament. If both progress from their group and reach the Super Fours stage, they will clash again, and there is also a possibility of meeting once more in the final.

As the high-voltage rivalry approaches, Tiwary’s comments have once again brought the debate on Indo-Pak cricket ties into sharp focus, especially given Gambhir’s earlier strong opinions on boycotting Pakistan