7 Most dramatic incidents in Indian cricket

Cricket has been defined as a gentleman’s game since its inception. When the English aristocrats began playing the game in the early 17th century, they laid down a basic thumb rule that the game should be played in ‘a gentlemanly manner’. This would exclude all possible forms of disorderly conduct, such as sledging, cheating, ball tampering, body-targeted bowling or excessive appealing. However, with the turn of eras, the sport has, unfortunately, had to bear witness to several dramatic incidents globally, most of which have crossed the threshold of appropriateness. Indian cricket is anything but alien to the word “controversy”. Be it the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing or the recent Kohli-Kumble debacle, the two time World Cup champions have had their own share of drama and chaos. Being a nation where cricket is played and watched with equal passion, where the positions of authority hold supreme power and look to exert their dominance, where cash influx is abundant and at time overpowering, things tend to go awry from time to time. Let’s take a look at the most dramatic incidents in the history of Indian Cricket 1. 1996 World Cup semi-final at the Eden Gardens India vs Sri Lanka Semi-final, 1996 Cricket World Cup. (Photo Source: Getty Images) In what is regarded as one of the darkest days in cricketing history, the semi-final match between India and Sri Lanka in the 1996 World Cup saw the spectators turn violent as the crowds threw empty plastic bottles and cans at the players and even set stands on fire. The match was played at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on March 13th, 1996. Opting to field first, India were successful in restricting Sri Lanka at 251/8. A chase that had seemed to be a walk in the park for the Indian team initially turned into a nightmare as the hosts were reduced to 120 for 8, as seven wickets fell for just 22 runs. The crowd was just restless and agitated at the pathetic show put up by their team and soon enough, they let their emotions be known vociferously. The spectators started throwing bottles, cans, plastic bags or whatever they could lay their hands on the playing field and even set some stands ablaze. Eventually, the match was awarded to Sri Lanka by the match referee, Clive Lloyd and it became the first match in the history of international cricket where a team won the match due to crowd disturbance. The image of Vinod Kambli crying while leaving the field is till date, one of the most vivid and remembered pictures of the entire debacle. 2. Manoj Prabhakar accuses Kapil Dev of match fixing Manoj Prabhakar. (Photo Source: Mid Day) In May 2000, the veteran Indian captain, Kapil Dev was unceremoniously accused of being involved in match fixing by another Indian cricketer, Manoj Prabhakar. Prabhakar alleged that Kapil had offered him 25 lakhs to produce substandard performance in a One-Day International (ODI) match. Soon after, when asked about the allegations in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Dev broke down and wept bitterly, rousing sympathy in the entire nation. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax officials investigated the charges and Kapil was exonerated of all charges. What shook the nation were the life-long bans imposed on Mohammed Azharuddin (who was later cleared by Hyderabad HC) and Ajay Sharma, from playing any cricket conducted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Also, Ajay Jadeja, Prabhakar and former India physio Dr Ali Irani were sentenced to serve out five-year bans. 3. Chappell-Ganguly power struggle Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappell. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Marking one of the most talked about coach-captain power tussles, Greg Chappell and Sourav Ganguly were embroiled in a bitter war in the years 2005-06. Chappell was allegedly a terrible man-manager and preferred to exercise the policy of “Divide and Rule” to keep himself in a position of authority. The dispute between the two resulted in Ganguly being replaced by Rahul Dravid as captain in November 2005, following which Ganguly was dropped from both the ODI and Test teams. Sachin Tendulkar, later corroborated to Ganguly’s version of the events in his autobiography, by stating that Chappell had wanted to remove Dravid from captaincy a few months before the 2007 World Cup. 4. The Monkeygate Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds. (Photo Source: Getty Images) The “Monkeygate” controversy, which happened during the 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia, left cricket fans with a bitter aftertaste. It involved a heated altercation between Indian spinner, Harbhajan Singh and Australian allrounder, Andrew Symonds. Symonds, who was the only non-white Australian player at the time, claimed to have been subjected to racist comments from the crowd. Later, on the third day of the second Test match of the series, Harbhajan allegedly addressed Symonds as a “monkey”, to which the latter reacted with expletives. Subsequently, the match referee, Mike Procter banned Harbhajan from playing the next three Test matches but the punishment was later reduced to 50% match-fee fine after reports emerged that India had threatened to boycott the tour. 5. IPL spot fixing IPL spot-fixing case. (Photo Source: Sportskeeda) The IPL spot-fixing case of 2013 and its ugly revelations shook the entire nation to it’s very core. The train wreck started after the Delhi Police arrested three cricketers: S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, on the charges of spot-fixing in IPL game. The three had been a part of the team Rajasthan Royals in the 2013 IPL and were later sent to Tihar jail to serve their sentence. In September 2013, Sreesanth and Chavan were also handed lifelong bans from the game. In a separate case, Mumbai Police arrested Vindu Dara Singh and Gurunath Meiyappan for alleged betting and having links with bookies. The then chief of BCCI, N Srinivasan was also allegedly involved in the entire scam via his son-in-law, Meiyappan and had to step down from his post in June 2013 after putting up a lot of resistance. 6. Dhoni vs seniors Indian cricketers Mahendra Singh Dhoni (R), Sachin Tendulkar (L) and Virendra Sehwag. (Photo by PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images) MS Dhoni has been often accused of being ensnared in issues regarding disrespect towards senior players. Be it in the case of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag or Gautam Gambhir. Dhoni has been reported of being unfavourably disposed towards the senior members of the squad one time too many. However, what may be considered as an irrefutable contradiction to the allegations is the fact that almost every senior cricketer, who has played under Captain Cool, has lauded him for his treatment towards them at some point or the other. The former leg-spinner, Anil Kumble, who was Dhoni’s predecessor as Test captain, even went on record to say, “Dhoni managed senior players well.” 7. Kohli-Kumble fiasco Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble. (Photo Source: Twitter) In the most recent controversy to have shrouded Indian cricket, the tug of war for power between coach, Anil Kumble and captain, Virat Kohli laid bare the gaping rifts in the team. After Kumble stepped down as the head coach of the Indian team, a flurry of reports emerged revealing that the coach-captain duo had been on a monosyllabic communication basic for 6 months prior to Kumble’s resignation. Reportedly, Kumble wanted to be the “alpha male” in the dressing room, to which the captain, as well as some of the other senior members, took exception. The trouble is said to have started over the decision of including chinaman bowler, Kuldeep Yadav into the playing squad against Australia in the third test match of the series held in February, 2017. While Kumble, in his resignation letter termed his working equation with Kohli to be “untenable”, the latter has maintained a dignified silence on the entire matter till date by virtue of maintaining “the sanctity of the dressing room.”

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7 Most dramatic incidents in Indian cricket

Over the years quite a few controversies have taken dramatic turns in Indian cricket to be remembered forever.

6. Dhoni vs seniors

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