9 Indian dressing room incidents - the closed door secrets

9 Indian dressing room incidents – the closed door secrets: What we see on camera is very little of what happens behind the scenes. There is so much happening inside the dressing room that we never witness. There are stories about motivational speeches to pranks to uneasy fights. It is a known fact that ‘What goes inside a cricket dressing room remains inside the dressing room’. But sometimes we get to peek into the events that occurred behind those closed doors via any cricketer’s biography or some intimate interviews. There have been certain incidents that would live on forever. Let us list some really amazing dressing room stories that are worth reading. Here are the 9 hidden incidents from the Indian cricket dressing room: 1. MS Dhoni was often bullied in the dressing room: MS Dhoni was often bullied in the dressing room (Source: Twitter) In his initial years young MS Dhoni was belittled by other players who often called him ‘Bihari’ (the one from the state of Bihar). Yuvraj Singh being the bully he is, would taunt the newcomer saying that hitting fours and sixes are no big deal but playing match-winning innings are. But when Dhoni started playing match winning knocks, Yuvraj huffed and said Test Matches are the one that really gauge a player’s worth. Sick of his bulls**t, one day Dhoni spitted out “That’s fine but tell me one thing, why are you always so angry.” That was a water shedding moment for the two and from then on they became great buddies. 2. Farokh Engineer – Out on a Duck: Farokh Engineer – Out on a Duck (Source: Twitter) In 1971 Farokh Engineer and Sunil Gavaskar were selected to play for the Rest of the world against Australia and they were to open. It was a surprise that Gavaskar was selected as he had debuted in the same year. Engineer being the senior guy told Gavaskar in the dressing room, “Don’t get out for a duck as the walk back to the pavilion is the longest you will ever experience here in Melbourne.” Funnily, Engineer himself got out in the first over. Gavaskar must have laughed hard. 3. When John Wright grabbed Sehwag’s collar: When John Wright grabbed Sehwag’s collar (Source: Twitter) This incident happened during the 2002 Natwest Trophy. Sehwag was at his peak then. But at the same time, he was getting out playing extremely silly shots. Indian coach, John Wright was not really happy with this. He also told Rahul Dravid, “If that guy gets out to one more bad shot I’m going to really have a go at him”. In the next match, Sehwag got out while playing one of his trademark shots and John Wright true to his word, grabbed Sehwag’s collar and blasted at him. Being the true sportsman that Sehwag is, he did not make a big deal out of it. Rahul Dravid appreciated Wright’s behavior stating that he actually wanted them to win. 4. When Dawood decided to visit the Indian dressing room: Dawood Ibrahim. (Source:X/Twitter) It probably isn’t surprising that Dawood Ibrahim has access to everywhere, even the Indian cricket dressing room. Yes, the Indian cricket dressing room. In 1986, when India was touring Sharjah, India’s most wanted Dawood came inside the Indian dressing room and offered the players cars if they would beat the Pakistan team in the match the next day. Dilip Vengsarkar revealed this in a press conference. Apparently, Dawood was asked to leave the room by the then Indian Captain Kapil Dev. 5. Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary gets the World Cup: Sachin Tendulkar Sudhir Kumar. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Who doesn’t know Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary. Yes, he is that colorful die-hard Sachin Fan. When India won the World Cup in 2011, Sachin signalled Sudhir to come to the Indian dressing room and join them in the celebrations. Tendulkar then asked Zaheer Khan to bring the World Cup. He then shook hands with Sudhir, hugged him and then let him lift the trophy! Sachin, you are a gem of a person. 6. A Prank on the Captain: Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly. (Source:X/Twitter) Sourav Ganguly has a dry sense of humour of his own but he must have never expected the sort of prank that Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh pulled on him on the April Fool’s day. The two cricketers created a fake news report which quoted Ganguly to have said that Yuvraj and Harbhajan did not have a good attitude and were a nuisance in the dressing room. Once they were armed with the document they ‘confronted’ Ganguly in his room in the presence of vice captain Rahul Dravid; Ganguly was understandably shocked as he had not given any such interview and tried his best to convince the two cricketers regarding his innocence. However, the game was up when Rahul Dravid started laughing since he was aware of the prank. 7. Yuvi to open?? You are kidding me!! (© Getty Images) During the 2001 Natwest trophy, a day before the match against England, Dada came up to Yuvraj and asked him, “kal open karega?” (will you open the innings tomorrow?). Yuvraj, being a newcomer was nervous, had no option but to say “yes” to the captain. He could not sleep in the night thinking about the prospect of opening the innings on English wickets. Next day, when Indian team was about to bat, Yuvraj started padding up. Seeing this, Dada and everyone else around started laughing. Then Dada went to Yuvraj and said, “mazaak kar raha tha main, 4 down aana” (I was kidding, come 4th down). 8. Sachin after scoring his century at Multan, 2004: (© Getty Images) In 2004, during the Multan Test, Sachin Tendulkar was 6 runs short of a double century, when stand-in captain Rahul Dravid declared the Indian innings. Tendulkar was shocked, hurt and furious. Some of the team-mates perhaps expected Sachin to throw his gear in the dressing room in disgust and create a scene. However, a player of the stature of Sachin didn’t do anything and decided not to say a word to anyone about the incident. Sachin only yelled at Dravid to “leave him alone”. John Wright and Sourav Ganguly later apologised to him about this bitter event. 9. When Sachin decided to don the motivator’s hat: (© Getty Images) This happened during the World Cup 2003 final against Australia. Indian team had a target of 359! The team was visibly nervous. It was during the half time, when Sachin gathered everyone in the dressing room and said, “Can we look to hit a boundary every over…. If we can so that makes it 200 runs of 50 balls and we would require the rest 160 from remaining 250 balls which does not seem so hard…”. Although India went on to lose the match but there surely was a ‘method to his madness’. This story was told by Harsha Bhogle at IIM.