We all have heard “Cricket is a gentleman’s game”, however, there have been moments which have been against the spirit of the game. Sometimes, even the laws were broken.
Here are 5 such incidents which are disgraceful and should never be repeated.
1. Australia vs. New Zealand, 1981:
The first thing which comes to the mind when we say “poor sportsman spirit” is the underarm incident.
It was the 3rd final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup and Australia was favorites to win. However, when New Zealand required 7 runs off the last ball, Australian captain –Greg Chappell- asked his brother, Trevor, to ball an underarm delivery, a delivery where it isn’t possible to get an elevation, denying New Zealand the chance to hit a six that would tie the game. The New Zealand batsman, Mckechnie, threw his bat in disappointment. It was indeed very poor behavior from the Australians and they got booed from the crowd.
2. When Sehwag was denied a century:
It was the 3rd ODI of India’s tour of Sri Lanka 2010. India required 1 run to win and Sehwag needed 1 run to complete his century.
The bowler, Suraj Randiv, bowled a deliberate no ball to deny Sehwag in what would have been his 13th century.
Randiv, bowled a no-ball which Sehwag hit for a six following it by celebrating his century only to be told that the 6 runs wouldn’t be counted as the no-ball had already sealed the deal for India. Although Randiv personally apologized to Sehwag for the incident, it was a shameful moment for not just Sri Lankan cricket but all of cricket and incidents like these, as Sehwag put it, “has no place in good cricket”.
3. Umpiring blunders, Cheating Australians, Sydney Test 2008:
This tour down-under was filled with controversies; from the “monkeygate scandal” to outright dishonest cricket, it is surely one of the most controversial series, in the history of the game.
- Umpiring blunders
- Racial comments
- Dishonest behavior on the field (Ponting, Clarke, Symonds)
Australian team did not shake hands with Indians and were busy celebrating the win that helped Ponting’s team equal Steve Waugh’s (16 consecutive tests wins) record.
4. When the crowd force-abandoned the match, India vs. Sri Lanka, 1996 World Cup Semi Final:
It was a disappointing end to the semi final of the 1996 World Cup between India and Sri Lanka, when the crowd at Eden Gardens threw bottles on the ground after seeing a disappointing batting performance by the Indians which forced to stop the match and declare Sri Lanka the winner. India was chasing 252 and Sachin losing his wicket at 65, ended a 90-run partnership between him and Manjrekar, and caused a flurry of wickets leaving India reeling at 120-8 in no time.
Sri Lankan bowlers destroyed the Indian batting line up. The Eden crowd couldn’t digest this and started throwing glass bottles and fruits on the pitch and setting fire to the seats in the ground.
The match referee, Clive Lloyd, tried to helplessly restart the match but to no avail. The match was abandoned and Sri Lanka was declared the winner.
5. Ball Tampering:
There have been many incidents of ball tampering- like Michael Atherton in 1994, Sachin Tendulkar in 1994, Anderson and Broad, 2010, Afridi in 2010 and many more.
Pakistan vs. England 2006 is one incident stands out. The umpires, Billy Doctrove and Darrell Hair, had accused Pakistan of ball tampering and awarded England 5 penalty runs and offered England a replacement ball.
As a protest against this decision, Pakistan did not take the field after tea break. Due to their refusal to come back and resume play, the umpires declared England winners by forfeiture.
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by Archit Athani
