What happens in a dressing room stays in a dressing room! Fans are always curious to know that what goes on in a dressing room after a game is lost or won.
So we bring up to you few unknown stories of the dressing room:
Sudhir Kumar Gautam rewarded for his devotion after 2011 World Cup win
Who doesn’t know this man and his love for the game and master blaster? So after India won 2011 World Cup, he was called in dressing room to celebrate with the team and also got to click pictures with the silverware!
Farokh Engineer’s words to Sunil Gavaskar before his opening debut
Gavaskar was selected to open the innings with Farookh Engineer for the Rest of the World against Australia back in 1971. “Don’t get out for a duck as the walk back to the pavilion is the longest you will ever experience here in Melbourne,” Engineer had cautioned Gavaskar. But he instead got out himself!
Sachin Tendulkar’s conversation with Munaf Patel after early exit from 2007 World Cup
After the loss in 2007 World Cup, all cricketers were tensed about their house getting attacked. Tendulkar had then asked Munaf Patel if he was scared.But Munaf Patel had replied, “Paaji, jahan main rehta hoon, udhaar aat hazaar log hai aur aur aat hazaar log mere security hai!”
Sachin Tendulkar’s motivational speech after 2003 World Cup First Innings
The entire Indian team was feeling low in confidence after Australia had set a target of 359 in the 2003 World Cup final. Sachin being the senior player came up with his speech.“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,”
Virat Kohli’s “warm” welcome
On his first day in the Indian dressing room, Virat Kohli was approached by some senior players and said it was customary for any debutant to touch the feet of Tendulkar. The new kid only came to know later that was a prank.
When MS Dhoni was bullied by Yuvraj Singh and co.
MS Dhoni once revealed that during his early days, he was bullied inside the Indian dressing room by the senior players who referred to him as ‘Bihari’. Yuvraj was the chief prankster and told Dhoni that hitting boundaries was useless if he could not win matches for India.
Sourav Ganguly played a prank on Yuvi
It was Yuvraj Singh’s ODI debut in the ICC 2000 knockout tournament. Ganguly said to Yuvraj that he would open the innings next day and Yuvraj without his wishe padded up only to discover it a prank.
Kapil Dev told underworld Don Dawood to leave the dressing room
Dilip Vengsarkar revealed in a press conference that the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim entered the Indian dressing room once during an India-Pakistan match at Sharjah in 1986. Dawood had promised to gift cars to each of the Indian players if they defeated Pakistan in that match. But Kapil, who the captain of Indian cricket team, rejected all his offers and asked him to leave.
John Wright Grabbed Sehwag By collars after his constant failures
During the 2002 NatWest Trophy, Sehwag was going through one of his bad patches and getting out cheaply. After again performing badly when he came back to the dressing room, Wright grabbed Sehwag’s collar and gave him a piece of his mind. But Sehwag shrugged it off with a smile. The reason behind Wight’s anger was Sehwag’s poor shot selection.
When entire team played April fool prank on Sourav Ganguly
This is one of the best! The plan masterminded by Harbhajan Singh saw the players come up with a fake news report that stated Ganguly had made some baseless allegations against his own players. Armed with a fake report, the players confronted Ganguly and demanded to know what was going on. Ganguly swore that he had made no such statement and was even ready to give up his captaincy. But as planned earlier, the players pretending to be hurt, got up and started leaving one by one. It was Rahul Dravid who then revealed to Ganguly that it was an April Fools’ Day joke. Ganguly then chased everyone up with his bat!
