Many athletes are known for their short tempers. There have been several cases of sportspeople from across the world and across fields who have been involved in altercations with their own colleague.
Having a tussle on the field and having a brawl off it is a very different thing, because in the case of the latter, police and law will almost invariably be involved. Plus, the embarrassment of being shamed publically, and your reputation getting tarnished.
Cricketers too are not much different, given the intensity with which they play on the field, and the fame they achive, it can sometimes get in your head – for not every famous and rich cricketer has maintained the zen-mind like Tendulkar or Dravid.
Here are 5 instances of cricketers being involved in a fight off the field:
Prithvi Shaw
India and Delhi Capitals opener Prithvi Shaw has created a world of trouble for himself after being involved in a ugly brawl with Sapna Gill, an Instagram model and Bhojpuri actor, and her friends on the evening of February 15, 2022, in Mumbai. The videos of that fight between Shaw and Sapna have gone viral on the internet.
The police have said that Shaw had filed a complaint against Sapna for hitting his friend’s car with a baseball bat. By the evening, though, Sapna’s lawyer shot back, accusing Shaw of “man-handling,” “abusing”, and “assaulting” Sapna.
Kalesh B/w Prithvi Shaw And Influencer Sapna Gill on Roadpic.twitter.com/QI88XpqHuX
— Ghar Ke Kalesh (@gharkekalesh) February 16, 2023
It has been reported that Sapna and her friends had asked Shaw for a selfie which he gave, but still caused trouble to the cricket, who then asked the hotel manager to ask Sapna and her friends to leave the hotel.
After that somebody brought a baseball bat, somebody chased someone’s car, and the ruckus created is now in front of everyone, but still not clear as who is the victim and who the criminal.
Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes is famous for his number of incredible moments on the field, as England’s talisman all-rounder and now their Test captain. But the aggressive Stokes also has had his fair share of controversy and fights.
While his fights with opponents were seen in the English media as a sign of “passion”, his brawl with two men outside a Bristol bar in 2017 took his career, and England cricket by a storm.
The England all-rounder, drunk and charged up, with teammate Alex Hales, knocked out two men with whom they were having a fall-out in/just outside a bar. Someone from the nearby building terrace recorded the video and Stokes was charged and pulled up by the police.
Ben Stokes said that he had acted in self-defence when one of the men whom he’d smashed with punches threatened him after Stokes had stood up for a gay couple who were being mocked by those men. Stokes missed plenty of international cricket after that, including the 2017/18 Ashes series in Australia, which England lost 4-0.
Watch it here:
Rohit Sharma and Praveen Kumar
We all must have seen this video, right? What started off as a verbal altercation between Rohit Sharma and some Indian fans, in the nets in Australia, soon threatened to turn into a physical fight when pacer Praveen Kumar got involved.
Rohit was perhaps being disturbed by some fans who were watching and commenting on his net session. Rohit had a few words to say, before Praveen Kumar entered the scene and told he’d put a stump in the places with holes in a man’s body if he got a caught of those who were arguing with them.
Watch it here:
Hasan Ali
Out of the Pakistan team, pacer Hasan Ali went to play some lower-level games where the crowd was sitting right beside the boundary line, and taunted Hasan for dropping the catch of Matthew Wade in the T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final which proved to be costly.
Later on, Hasan Ali lost his cool and charged at some people in the crowd, creating for very ugly scenes.
Watch it here:
Parvinder Awana
Former India and Punjab Kings pacer Parvinder Awana was undeservedly dragged into a fight in Nodia, when a group of goons beat him up having misterpreted him as a member of the rival gang.
In 2017, when in a market in Nodia, four men chased Awana and physically assaulted him. It was later learned that the accused had a history with an ice factory worker where Awana had come to purchase some ice. He tried to calm down both groups, but the accused mistook him as a rival gang member and hit the seamer.
