Generally as fans, we only get to see the action on the cricket ground, but we largely remain unaware of what happens behind the scenes.
While the action on the ground is interesting enough, sometimes the stories which unfold behind the scenes are as interesting as the cricketing action itself.
Here are some of the interesting cricket stories we didn’t get to know as the television audience –
#1 Harbhajan also wanted to take his shirt off at Lord’s:
After India’s famous win in the Natwest Trophy final in 2002, we only got to see Sourav Ganguly waving his shirt in the Lord’s balcony, but Rahul Dravid later revealed that the off spinner Harbhajan Singh was also about to do the same and would have done that if Dravid had not stopped him.
#2 Kaif’s parents were watching the movie when Natwest final was on:
There is one more interesting story from the Natwest Trophy final. When India lost quite a few wickets during the chase, Mohammad Kaif’s parents stopped watching the game and went to a theater to watch the movie “Devdas”.
However, when Kaif played that magical knock of 87 and dragged India over the line, people went to the theater to tell Kaif’s parents about the heroics of his son and that’s when they got to know that India had won.
#3 Shoaib Akhtar threatened Brett Lee:
Brett Lee himself was someone who had got express pace and he used to intimidate the batsman, but he was not very confident when he had to face another express fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar in one of the games.
Akhtar even added to Lee’s stress just as he walked onto the wicket by telling him “Binga, I will kill you”.
Lee tried to pacify Akhtar by saying, “No Shoaib, we are friends”, but Akhtar still bowled fast.
#4 Dravid had fever in Kolkata Test:
We all fondly remember that mammoth partnership between VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid in that historic Test match in Kolkata in 2001, but hardly any of us know that Dravid was actually suffering from fever on the eve of the fourth day of the game where he put on that partnership with Laxman.
However, Dravid never at any stage during that partnership gave any indication that he couldn’t continue further. Mr. dependable of Indian cricket just kept on batting and made a match winning impact for India which eventually turned the series around as well.
#5 Understanding between Sehwag and Ganguly:
When Sourav Ganguly asked a young Virender Sehwag to open the batting in Test cricket, it was a huge challenge for Sehwag because he had been a middle order batsman right through his career. Facing the new ball was not something that he was used to.
Sehwag asked Ganguly if he would get another opportunity in the middle order in case he couldn’t do well as an opener?
Ganguly assured the youngster that he would definitely get another opportunity if he failed opening the batting and that’s when Sehwag agreed to open the batting in Test match cricket.
