We have often seen fights on the cricket field which tend to bring disrepute to the game. Some of these fights turn so ugly that people are at times driven away from the game of cricket. We at Stumpsandbails bring you 5 such fights that grabbed all headlines.
#5 Andrew Symonds-Harbhajan Singh, 2008
Australia and India have forever been at loggerheads with each other. The players have engaged in banter, sledding and at times have come close to pushing and shoving each other. But one incident which sits atop all India-Australia battle is the monkey gate fight. Andrew Symonds was often known to fight verbal battles with the opposition. But he didn’t expect that Harbhajan Singh will prove to be his nemesis.
India were the only team in world cricket back in 2007 that were able to get under the skin of the Australian team. Indians were easing past Aussies through a steady partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh in the 2nd Test of the 4 match Test series in 2007-08. That is when Andrew Symonds said a few words to Harbhajan Singh. To which, Harbhajan immediately retorted with few words.
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Nobody knew the magnitude of the fight until the completion of the match. Post the match’s completion, Harbhajan was accused of racially abusing Andrew Symonds. It was alleged that Harbhajan called Symonds a monkey. The Indian team fought this allegation tooth and nail and managed to successfully clear Harbhajan’s name from the allegation. Andrew Symonds could never really recover from that fight and he prematurely ended his cricketing career.
#4 MS Dhoni v Mustafizur Rehman, 2015
Bangladesh’s prodigal talent, Mustafizur Rehman made a stunning debut against India. He had caught India unawares with his slow left-arm cutters. While chasing a score of around 300, Rehman had once barged into Indian opener, Rohit Sharma. Sharma signaled a warning to Rehman saying he better avoid coming his way. Rehman seemed to repeat the act against the then Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But Dhoni smarting from the Sharma episode, collided with all his might and this resulted in Rehman falling off onto the ground. Bangladesh and its players learned a lesson from this episode that you don’t ever mess with captain cool.
#3 Ramnaresh Sarwan v Glenn McGrath, 2003
Australians during the 2000s were known to engage in the mental disintegration of opponents. Australia had already bagged the 4 match Test series against West Indies 3-0 going into the final Test match. Aussies had set a target of 418 for the Windies to chase down in the final innings. But to the Australian’s surprise, the Windies were looking set to overhaul the target.
That is when Australian speedster, Glenn McGrath got into a verbal fight with Ramnaresh Sarwan. McGrath said few choicest words to Sarwan questioning his servile relationship with Brian Lara, while Sarwan controversially asked McGrath about his wife. The fight got ugly and it didn’t make for good viewing.
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#2 Venkatesh Prasad vs Aamir Sohail, 1996
India and Pakistan were playing a high voltage quarterfinal in the 1996 cricket World Cup. Tempers were flying high between both teams and it reached a standpoint when stand-in skipper, Aamir Sohail pointed his hand at Indian pacer, Venkatesh Prasad. He allegedly told Prasad that he will again hit him to the boundary fence. But Prasad roared back stunningly, bowling Sohail comprehensively. The middle stump was out of the ground and the crowd at Chinnaswamy, Bangalore went berserk.
#1 Gautam Gambhir vs Virat Kohli, 2013
Gautam Gambhir was always looked upon as someone who has mentored Virat Kohli in his initial years of International Cricket. The duo has shared many a memorable partnership and were considered thick friends once. But all hell broke loose in an IPL game in 2013 when Gambhir’s Kolkata Knight Riders were playing Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore. Gambhir gave Kohli a send-off after taking his catch to which Kohli retorted pretty strongly and walked swiftly in Gambhir’s direction.
The duo almost came face to face against each other as if they were getting ready for a boxing bout. Rajat Bhatia and few other cricketers stepped in else it would have been a very sorry picture featuring 2 of India’s leading cricketers.
