10 Shameful Aspects in the Gentleman's Game, Cricket

10 Shameful Aspects in the Gentleman’s Game, Cricket: Cricket is called the Gentleman’s game but at times even the gentleness of this game has been at stake by some nuisances being caused on the field. Over the years, we witnessed immoral banters taking on the field, be it the fight amongst the players like Miandad and Lillee, or the volcanic madness between Starc and Pollard in the IPL. Also, the game was thoroughly rotten through the rags of betting and match fixing scandals. The semi final of the 1996 World Cup and other prolific matches and even tournaments were fixed at a time, putting the entire image of the game into misery. The chastity of the game has been proverbially stained at times and the pages of history are the witnesses for the same.

In order to explore the other face of the coin, here we are going to put light upon the 10 Shameful Aspects in the Gentleman’s Game, Cricket:

1. Match Fixing Scandals:

Cricket is a game with uncertainty. Now when the uncertainty is hindered and plots are being decided and the entire set of the fans are being fooled by executing pre-planned things in the name of uncertainty, the dignity of the game gets hurt. Yes, in short we are indicating about the poisonous effect of Match Fixing in the game and how big a shame it is for the game and it’s spirit! We have seen players being involved in fixing issues. We have seen players like Mohammad Aamer, Salman Butt, S Sreesanth, Hansie Cronje and many others fall into the rattrap of financial prospects and spoil the nature of the game for the same.

2. Sledging:

Some say sledging is perhaps one of the spices in the game. But, a game trademarked as being a ‘Gentleman’s game’ doesn’t need such spices as it is pretty unhygienic for its diet! We have seen the mouthful exchanges between players over the years. The Aussies have the reputation for the same of choking the opposition batsmen by the galore of abuses. There have been many such incidents between McGrath and Sarwan, the Australian pacers against the Kiwis, Gambhir’s exchange of intense pleasantries with Afridi and many more. Sometimes things become worse when players seem to sledge their national teammates. It looked agonizing when we witnessed Gambhir getting into verbal act with Kohli and Dravid in the sixth edition of the IPL. What these things do is they silently dethrones the gentleness of the game at the expense of some spices.

Quick Link – Top 10 Greatest Sledging Incidents in Cricket History

3. Discrimination’s:

We have seen how racial discrimination uprooted the Cricketing instincts in Zimbabwe. Some white players went for a strike while the black players held their stand back in 2004. Its been 11 years since then and Zimbabwe is yet to recover from such a pathetic setback. Racism casts a poor shadow in its dignity of the game, as Cricket is a means of entertainment with pure sporting action. It is not the place for any social discrimination’s.

4. Fights:

When banters and verbal exchanges exceed their limits, the players readily get involve into physical actions on the field. We have seen how Miandad went to hit Dennis Lillee after Lillee happened to kick Miandad, we also saw Starc and Pollard almost hit each other where Pollard threw his bat in anger, we have also seen Warne and Samuels getting involved in a push-pull in the Big Bash League. Also, we do remember the thunderous slap which Harbhajan had to offer to his national teammate Sreesanth after the match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians back in the first edition of IPL. In brief, these are indeed demeaning to a horrid extent.

Here is the full video of the incident:

Quick Link – Top 5 Biggest Fights In Cricket History

5. Disrespect for the Senior Pros of the game:

Players, during the intentions of pressurizing the opposition, do not think twice before sledging the senior-most pros of the game. We witnessed Clarke sledging Tendulkar while Clarke was just a rookie, we also witnessed 17-year old Parthiv Patel sledging the Aussie Captain, Steve Waugh in his farewell test series. Such things are unacceptable at the international levels and it might definitely irk many of the cricket fans for sure.

6. Attacks on the Players:

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We have seen the players being attacked by the audiences on a number of occasions. Recalling the ODI between West Indies and Australia when Australia toured the Caribbean in the late 90s. 4 runs were required in the last ball and the crowd erupted and got into the ground resulting in ceasing the play. Steve Waugh was being attacked by a group of supporters. Also, the crowd of Eden Gardens in the 1996 semi final needs a mention. Bottles, food packets and several other things were aimed at the players and the officials were forced to call off the game and declare Sri Lanka as the winner.

7. Attacks on the Houses of Cricketers:

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This is an incident which is solely registered by the Indian fans. Quite often in the early days, when India happened to lose matches, the houses of players were attacked and stones, shoes and several articles were aimed at their homes as a means to show their anger. Well such people can never be categorised under the niche called ‘fans’! Due to such cheap acts, the spirit of the game simply extinguishes.

8. Fights among Supporters:

In early days, during the derby matches, India v Pakistan for instance, the fans often indulged in fights at the stands and things often got heated up. After all, Cricket is just a game. National emotions and political influences have to be set aside. In the field, only two teams play against each other. That is where one needs to focus upon and one should appreciate the fights only on the field and not off it.

9. Streaking:

It is the act of running naked in a public area marked as a prank, a dare or an act of protest. There have been quite a number of times when Streakers have been seen running into the Cricket pitches. Some of them were seen in Australia and England. One can remember the one which was seen during the match between Australia and India in the CB series, 2008. Such things are nothing but acute cheapness and fans need to be mature enough to avoid this.

10. Cheating:

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Now ironically there are a few gentlemen in the ‘Gentleman’s game’ and that is what leads to bigger problems. Players often, in order to pressurize the umpires appeal fake, also some batsmen despite knowing that they were out, get reluctant to leave the crease and wait for the umpire to commit a mistake. Cricket is a game which is designated to be played with true spirit and loyalty and not with cheating intentions. One can admire Sachin Tendulkar for being the epitome of honest sportsman on the field as well as Adam Gilchrist for walking off if he knew he was out.