New Delhi : India discards Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary were on Saturday involved in an ugly on-field altercation and nearly came to blows during the Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Bengal at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium here. Delhi captain Gambhir, who had been involved in ugly on- field confrontations even in the past, had an angry exchange of words with his Bengal counterpart before the umpire had to step in to defuse the situation. Umpire K Srinath had to come between the two players as Gambhir moved towards Tiwary to hit him. The Bengal skipper too came charging at Gambhir, the former Indian captain and opener who has played 56 Tests and 147 ODIs for the country. A livid Gambhir did not pay heed to Srinath’s attempts at pacifying him and tried to get him out of the way. Touching an umpire is a grave offence in cricket, which could invite a ban.
The incident happened in the eighth over when Partha Sarathi Bhattacharjee got out of Manan Sharma’s bowling and Tiwary came in to bat at No. 4 wearing a cap. “I have huge respect for Gautam Gambhir for whatever he has done for the country but today he crossed the limit with his comments. He made personal comments. I was really shocked as I did not start it at all. He is much senior to me and I respect him,” Tiwary said in his defence. “I had kept my helmet beside the boundary rope as it has become wet and I wanted to dry it. That was about it and everyone saw I was not the first one to react. He tried to hit but could not. He pushed the umpire who came in between. It’s their in the video, you all have seen it.”
Gambhir, on his part, merely said, “nothing happened,” when asked for a reaction. Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya, on the other hand, tried to downplay the incident. “It happens when two captains are passionate about the game. The match referee will decide based on umpire’s report. This is not first time it has happened and neither is it the last time,” he said. The furore started with Gambhir saying: “Shaam ko mil tujhe maroonga (Meet me in the evening, I will hit you). And Tiwary retorted, saying: “Shaam kya abhi bahar chal (Why wait till evening, let’s go out and settle it now”). Meanwhile, Gambhir was fined 70 percent of his match fees while his Bengal counterpart Manoj Tiwary copped a penalty of 40 percent for their on-field altercation. “The match referee (Valmik Buch) called me and informed that Manoj has been docked 40 percent of his match fees as he also got into the argument. The match referee told me that rules specify that he will have to fine Manoj. Gautam Gambhir has been penalised 70 percent of his match fees. There is no further hearing and no match ban has been imposed on either of them,” Bengal team manager Sameer Dasgupta said.
