XtraTime Web Desk: Cricket and Controversy, these two words always go side by side since the Gentlemen’s game started. All the cricket playing team had few controversies in the past and India is also no different from it. Here we will talk about five most talked about controversies in Indian cricket.
Match Fixing Scandal in 1999
It can be regarded as the darkest period of Indian cricket. In the 1999 match-fixing scandal former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja faced life ban & 5 years respectively after it was proved that the two were involved in it. The Indian cricket team was going down in a black hole when the pack of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble took the batton in their hands and took the team to the right path. After that Ganguly was given the captaincy and he took the team to new heights.
IPL Spot Fixing Scandal
The Indian Premier League’s clean image faced a huge blow when in the year 2013 the Delhi Police stated that some matches of that season were fixed by a few cricketers. In a sting operation which was done by Delhi Police revealed that some to players like S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila & Ankit Chavan of Rajasthan Royals were a part of the fixing. Later the trio was banned by BCCI for life. The investigation also revealed that Gurunath Meiyappan, the so-called cricket enthusiast and Chennai Super Kings’ team principal was also involved in it.
1996 WC Semi-final riot
Despite of being in a good position at one stage on 98 for 1 India lost wickets in regular intervals in the semi-final of 1996 World Cup against Sri Lanka. At one stage they were 120 for 8 in just over 11 overs. After the failure of the batsmen in a must win game, the violent crowd at tbe Eden Gardens started riot inside the stadium. The fans started to throw stones and bottles inside the ground and the match referee Clive Lloyd was forced to take off the cricketers. Vinod Kambli who was leaving the field with tears later revealed that the match was fixed and his reports were dismissed by his teammates.
Monkey Gate Saga in Australia
The second Test match of the 2007-08 Australian summer is well remembered for all the wrong reasons. First the umpires will cost India the match courtesy some poor on-field decisions and then came the infamous Monkey Gate Saga. During an over change in the match, Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh and Aussie All Rounder Andrew Symonds were caught in a controversy. Symonds claimed that Harbhajan racially abused him calling him a monkey and both the players were summoned after the match in which Harbhajan was slapped with a one match ban.
Harbhajan-Sreesanth Spat in IPL
Once again, Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth were involved in an on-field spat. It happened in the 2008 IPL match between Harbhajan Singh led Mumbai Indians and Sreesanth’s Yuvraj Singh led Kings XI Punjab. After Punjab defeated Mumbai, the players were greeting each other and that was when Harbhajan slapped his India teammate Sreesanth, who seemed to have provoked him.