6 Times Gautam Gambhir was involved in an altercation

6 Times Gautam Gambhir was involved in an altercation: Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir, who was fined for his ugly altercation with Manoj Tiwari in a Ranji Trophy match at the Ferozshah Kotla yesterday is not a one-time offender. Gambhir, 34 has a history of losing cool and becoming a party to ugly exchanges. On Saturday, against Bengal, he almost came close to exchanging blows with his opposite number Manoj Tiwary. The on-field altercation once again brought out a bad side of the Delhi lad. But this is also a reflection of the change in the mindset of Indian players these days. Indian cricketers are no longer docile and submissive on the field. While that adds flavour to the game, sometimes players also cross the line. What was disheartening was that Gambhir even pushed the umpire when he tried to calm proceedings. Here we take a look at the incidents in the past where Gambhir lost his temperament on the cricket field. 1. Gambhir – Shahid Afridi Kanpur, 2007: India versus Pakistan games are always a tense affair. It was the third ODI at Kanpur during Pakistan’s tour of India in 2007. Shahid Afridi was bowling to Gambhir and after the left-hander had just hit him for a four. Off the next delivery, Gambhir ran a single, and the duo collided in the process. What followed was a heated argument in which they both were heard using quite a ‘colourfurl language’. As a result of the incident, the Referee Roshan Mahanama fined both Afridi and Gambhir 95% and 65% of their match fees respectively. Gambhir was found guilty of the offence of inappropriate and deliberate physical contact and disrepute charge. 2. Gambhir – Virat Kohli, Bengaluru IPL 2013: During a league match of the sixth edition of IPL between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders, Gambhir and Virat Kohli hurled abuses while charging towards each other after the latter’s dismissal. This happened during the 10th over of RCB innings after Kohli was caught off Lakshmipathy Balaji for 35. KKR’s Rajat Bhatia came in between and tried calming Gambhir down. This was pretty surprising since Gambhir and Kohli had been Delhi teammates and had also shared the space in the Indian dressing room. 3. Gambhir- Shane Watson, Delhi Test 2008: Next on our list is the 2008 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. During the first day of the Delhi Test, Gambhir elbowed Watson while taking a second run during the 51st over. This happened after the two had verbal clashes earlier in the day. After Watson went overboard with his sledging, Gambhir decided to take matters into his own hands and so while completing a second run he stuck out his left elbow to hit Watson in his midriff. Match Referee Chris Broad charged Gambhir with a Level 2 offence for not conducting play “within the spirit of the game as well as within the laws of cricket” and was banned for one Test. He scored a double-century during that innings. 4. Gambhir – Kamran Akmal 2010, Asia Cup: This game happened during the 4th game of the Asia Cup between India and Pakistan at the Dambulla International Stadium Sri Lanka. India were in a pretty comfortable position during the chase of 268 with Gambhir and Dhoni on the crease. Gambhir, in one of those rare occasions, missed a delivery from Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal by a mile. Wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal went up immediately claiming a caught behind only for the umpire to turn it down immediately. Gambhir who was clearly not amused walked straight up to Akmal during the drinks break and confronted him about the appeal. An ugly spat followed, and it could have turned uglier had MS Dhoni and the on-field umpires, not intervened. 5. Gambhir – Shardul Thakur, Cuttack 2014-15: (source) Delhi lost to Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy 2014-15 quarterfinal at Cuttack. One of the highlights of the clash was the engrossing battle between pacer Shardul Thakur and Gambhir. Thakur was the in-form bowler and so Delhi chose to attack him while chasing 441. Led by their skipper, Delhi succeeded in removing him from the attack after scoring few boundaries off him but Thakur returned and trapped Gambhir for 34. Thakur, then unnecessarily directed some ‘verbal plesantries’ to the departing batsman. Angered by the comments he turned towards the bowler with a raised bat. Thakur was later reprimanded for his behaviour and fined 50% of his match fees. Gambhir walked scot-free. 6. Gambhir – Manoj Tiwari, Delhi 2015: (© Hindustan Times via Getty Images) India discards Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary were involved in an ugly on-field altercation and nearly came to blows during the Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Bengal at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium. The incident happened when Tiwari came in to bat at number 4 without a helmet. But seeing a pacer operating from the other end he signalled at the dressing room to get him a helmet. Delhi players felt that it was a deliberate time-wasting tactic. In a gentlemanly tone, extremely becoming of men who’ve represented their country (pun intended), Gautam Gambhir started: “Shaam ko mil tujhe maroonga (Meet me in the evening, I will hit you). And Tiwary retorted, saying: “Shaam kya abhi bahar chal (Why wait till evening, let’s go out and settle it now”). Umpire K Srinath tried to diffuse the situation but Gambhir actually pushed the umpire away which resulted in his match fees being docked by 50%.