10 Controversial cricket dressing room incidents

10 Controversial cricket dressing room incidents: The dressing room. The inner sanctum of any sport. What happens inside those four walls stays there – unless it goes too far and into the public domain. And quite often it does. Cricket is no stranger. The controversies or inside stories usually come out only when a player decides to give printed space to those spicy incidents. Or else they pop up when cricketers are enquired about those at public or media events. Today we list out 10 Controversial cricket dressing room incidents: 1. Matt Prior breaking the glass panes: Matt Prior. (© Getty Images) When a batsman is run-out by his opposite number during a cricket match tempers can often flare. So when England wicket keeper Matt Prior was left high and dry by batsman Ian Bell at Lord’s in 2011 he was rightly angry. Moments later a smashing sound was heard across ground, with some spectators assuming it was a broken plate in a hospitality box. But it was actually Prior’s bat smashing a window of the famous Lord’s pavilion. Spectators below the England dressing room were showered in glass after his bat damaged the window following his dismissal. Prior, alongside England captain Andrew Strauss, were both quick to apologies following the incident as they began their fielding innings. Also Read – 9 Indian dressing room incidents – the closed door secrets 2. Damien Martin fiasco: (source) A memoir by the England fast bowler James Anderson revealed that he attacked an “arrogant” Michael Clarke with a batsman’s pad in the dressing room post an Ashes Test, after being egged on by Clarke’s teammate Damien Martyn. The England quick says in the autobiography Jimmy: My Story, that he took to the then Australian No.6 batsman, in the home dressing room at the Adelaide Oval following Australia’s six-wicket win during the 2006/07 Ashes. Martyn retired from the Australian team two days after the incident. 3. MS Dhoni got emotional in the dressing room: MS Dhoni got emotional in the dressing room. (Photo Source: Suresh Raina Twitter Handle) After 3rd Test between India & Australia at MCG on 30th Dec, 2014 MSD announced his decision to retire first of all in the Indian dressing room, he said “I can’t play all formats anymore, so I’m announcing my retirement from Tests”. Everyone in the dressing room became emotional. It tells you how honest he is with himself and his mates. truly selfless man. 4. Yusuf Pathan slaps a spectator: The spectator had been passing “indecent comments” against Pathan as well as other players during a Ranji match in the 2014 season. Pathan was in no mood to tolerate such a behaviour. Thus, after he got out, he called that youngster inside the dressing room and allegedly slapped him twice. 5. Greg Chappell’s letter to BCCI: Greg Chappell. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Chappell sent an email to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, during the 2005 Zimbabwe tour which criticised Ganguly as being “mentally and physically unfit” to lead the team. Chappell stated that Ganguly’s “negative attitude” would hamper India’s development as a unit for the 2007 World Cup and that the injuries suffered by Ganguly are “imaginary”. Harbhajan Singh, an integral member of the side then alter said “Sourav was batting out there in the middle and this man was typing a critical e-mail against Sourav, sitting right there in that dressing room. 6. Pakistan’s fielding coach resigning during 2015 ODI World Cup: Grant Luden. (Photo Source: PCB) Pakistan’s World Cup in 2015 was hit with a major controversy when the national team’s fielding coach Grant Luden reportedly quit and then withdrew his resignation after complaining of misbehaviour from three senior players. Luden complained that Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal had misbehaved with him during a training session according to media reports. Luden apparently registered his complain to Shahryar Khan that some of the players were not cooperating with him in the training sessions that hindered his work. 7. Kevin Pietersen v Matt Prior: (source) In ‘KP: The Autobiography’ the former England batsman, Pietersen claims that Andy Flower wanted to build a team of “Boy Scouts who never did anything wrong on or off the field. But the big claims were about former England wicket keeper Matt Prior. Pietersen claims that Prior’s run as vice-captain was one of terror in which he would scream and yell at fielders for dropped catches and errors. “It was a sad time,” says Pietersen about how he fell out with Prior in New Zealand. “I had been friends with Cheese (Prior). Now he was slowly losing any sense of himself as he turned up the volume and made himself the main man of the dressing room.” he wrote. 8. Shoaib Akhtar on Wasim v Waqar argument: (© SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images) In his tell-all autobiography, ‘Controversially Yours’, Shoaib described in detail the tension in the dressing room caused at one stage by a feud between Wasim and Waqar. The tiff between Wasim and Waqar took place prior to the Asian Test Championship match in Kolkata (1999) that led to Shoaib’s selection for the Eden Test. “Meanwhile, we lost the Delhi Test and Wasim got into an argument with Waqar. It got so bad that rumour started doing rounds that Waqar was to be sent back home,” the bowler writes. “The two seniors were at war and we were a young and fresh team. Everyone was stressed out and amidst all this, it was decided that I would play” he further adds. 9. Shoaib Akhtar’s spat with Waqar Younis: (Source) The controversial pacer Shoaib Akhtar spoke about his spat with the then captain Waqar during the 2003 World Cup where Pakistan couldn’t even make it to the last four stage. “Once again, we were on the losing side, which is never conducive to Pakistani team spirit. The whole lot of us were rubbing each other the wrong way and I got involved in a verbal conflict with Waqar, which of course was the only thing board remembered later – not my record, mind you. I was sacked along with other players, including Waqar,” Shoaib wrote in his autobiography. 10. Percy entered the Indian dressing room: (source) Percy Abeysekera, Sri Lankan cricket’s oldest fan and a popular figure, claimed Indian skipper Virat Kohli invited him to meet the boys, during the second Test of India’s recent tour to Sri Lanka. His presence into the Indian dressing room did not go down well with the ACSU. Dressing rooms are tightly guarded zones and International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) has barred anyone from entering these player strongholds without the highest level of clearance. “There was an Indian ACSU official there and he didn’t like me in the dressing room. He asked me to leave and told me I am not allowed to enter either of the dressing rooms. There is no black mark associated to me,” Percy later said. Also Read – 10 Cricketers and their super luxurious homes