Gautam Gambhir has protested his innocence in the aftermath of the ugly incident involving him and Manoj Tiwary at the Kotla.
During a Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Bengal, Gambhir reportedly told Tiwary: "Shaam ko mil tujhe maroonga." Tiwary was quick to retort: "Shaam ko kya, abhi bahar chal."
Gambhir also advanced towards Tiwary menacingly and reportedly shoved the umpire when he tried to intervene.
But Gambhir lated denied having pushed the umpire and also insisted that the words attributed to him in the media were incorrect.
Here is the full text of Gambhir's statement:
"I was most surprised that certain sections of the media have reported that I pushed an on-field umpire during 3rd day's play of Delhi-Bengal Ranji Trophy game. It's factually incorrect. Here is what happened.
Manoj Tiwary walked into bat with Bengal with score reading 2 for 2 wickets down. After conceding first innings lead we were keen to press home the advantage by playing positive cricket.
The match was extremely well poised and we got fielders around Manoj trying to pressurise him. At which point he started taking longer than usual to face the next ball. My team-mates urged Manoj to refrain from wasting time. Instead of getting on with his batting he started abusing some of Delhi players.
At which point I came in and told him what I thought about his demeanour and there was a verbal exchange. The umpires did a wonderful job of calming the situation by intervening right there. And the matter ended.
At no point did I threaten or pushed any on-field umpires. Nor did I threaten to beat Manoj up. Infact, 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."
