Manoj Tiwary alleges Gautam Gambhir cursed Ganguly, Bengalis

New Delhi: Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary on Sunday alleged that his Delhi counterpart Gautam Gambhir and his teammates made unsavoury comments about former India captain Sourav Ganguly and Bengal, which upset him to a great deal.

The Bengal captain, who paid a visit to match referee Valmik Buch, after the Ranji Trophy match ended said that entire video footage is going to BCCI and he has also spoken to Ganguly personally on this matter.

“Yesterday, I spoke to him (Ganguly) and told him about the whole incident. He was very upset because, somewhere his name was also raised and that is why I was also very upset about it. I felt really bad,” Tiwary told mediapersons after the match.

“There was something that was said. Yes he (Ganguly) felt hurt when I spoke to him about it and I was also upset about it because we represent Bengal and we don’t want to listen to something that is against our community,” Tiwary alleged.

The Bengal skipper also claimed that saying things about a particular “community” wasn’t in good taste. “I know, sledging and competitiveness is all good to a certain extent. player should know where to hold and do not cross the line. As a community, you do not want to get hurt. There were lot of things said which I felt bad about,” the former India international made no bones about it.

Manoj said that he did not mind “pressure tactics” as long as someone’s parents are not being dragged into it. “Obviously, they were pressurising me but that does not mean he has the right to abuse me. Sledging in a competitive way is good but you don’t have to sledge taking your father or mother’s name. You don’t want to cross line when you play competitive game,” said Tiwary.

Asked if there is video evidence of Gambhir pushing the umpire, Tiwary replied: “It’s recorded. Look the video is there and the match referee has told me that it would go to BCCI. They will have a look at it.”

Tiwary countered saying that Gambhir has lied in his press statement that match referee has evidence against the Bengal captain. “That’s not true actually. The match referee has spoken to me this evening. He has clearly told me not to speak about the incident anymore. But it’s a rule we have to follow as professional players as we are under BCCI. All the incident issue has gone to BCCI and it's upto them what they want to do. A detailed report has gone to BCCI as far as match referee has told me. You have to wait.”

Again pressed about the video evidence, Tiwary said: “See I have been fined a less percentage (40 per cent to Gambhir’s 70) so that obviously speaks what happened over there. I don't have to say much about it.”