Ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup, former Team India batsman Manoj Tiwary raised concerns about the India national cricket team’s dressing room, which was mostly in the news for the wrong reasons during the team’s tour of the United Kingdom.
Manoj Tiwari said that if Team India wants to perform well in the upcoming World Cup, then the team management will first have to pay attention to the atmosphere in the dressing room. From the outside, Tiwary felt that something was wrong in the Indian cricket dressing room with Gautam Gambhir as the head coach.
India is currently performing well under the coaching of VVS Laxman.
India has made a good start to the ongoing T20 series in Zimbabwe and won the first match of the three-match T20 series with a resounding victory. This win was much needed for the team as they had surrendered consecutive series against Ireland and England.
Currently, VVS Laxman is at the National Cricket Academy as the stand-in head coach of the senior cricket team along with his support staff. Manoj Tiwary highlighted that despite the difference in rankings between Ireland, England and Zimbabwe, the players’ performance seems to be improving under the guidance of Gautam Gambhir and now Laxman.
Manoj Tiwari gave a big warning to the Indian cricket team
In a sense of urgency, Manoj Tiwary said that he has seen a lot of differences in the dressing room that need to be addressed ahead of the ODI World Cup. Possible differences in the dressing room could lead to unstable playing combinations.
Along with the team’s poor results against Ireland and England, reports and videos claiming that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir were not on the same page emerged as a worrying situation for the team.
“I see a lot of differences in the dressing room which need to be sorted out before the World Cup. If you want to do well in the 2027 World Cup in South Africa, there needs to be a drastic change in the playing XI, the combination. Because a lot of stories are coming out that both of them, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, obviously we have seen them interacting with the head coach,” Manoj Tiwary said via PTI video.
He said, “But talking about Virat, we have not seen many such videos. And there are rumors that there is no communication between them inside the team. I think the atmosphere inside the team should be very good, which is not there at the moment.”
Manoj Tiwary believed that the poor results during the UK tour could be due to differences within the team. If this continues, the team’s chances of performing well in the 2027 World Cup may reduce.
“And the results remain to be seen. The results are a reflection of how the dressing room is at the moment,” the former Indian cricketer said.
Video | Former India batsman Manoj Tiwari believes that for India to perform well in the 2027 World Cup, the team will have to overcome the differences in the dressing room.
“…It is difficult, right now VVS Laxman is for the Zimbabwe tour and when the Zimbabwe tour happens… pic.twitter.com/5GQMKSIJji
– Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 24, 2026
