Cricket is a gentleman’s game. It is a team sport, however, there have been occasional rare moments when the cricketers come down with a bout of selfishness. Of course, cricketers are passionate about breaking the international records and creating new ones, however, a player should always play for the team and shouldn’t behave selfishly when they are out there representing the country.
But time and again, even the greatest cricketers as well have played some selfish knocks. Though they can’t be deemed selfish but they surely put their individual milestones ahead of the team’s benefit and played selfish knocks.
Here, in this article, we bring you a list of 5 Indian cricketers who played selfish knocks during their careers, which costed Team India major tournaments or matches. Have a look:
1.MS Dhoni vs England, 2018:
MS Dhoni, one cricketer who is hailed for his selfless cricketing career and the way he has backed youngsters, created a space for himself in this list after he played his selfish knock versus England, in the year 2018.
Virat Kohli led team India on their tour to England had already registered a win in the T20 series and were hoping to win the ODI series as well, however, the ‘Men in Blue’ got off to the worst start possible.
After the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli was dismissed the Indian batting line-up collapsed. Everyone was looking for MS Dhoni to save the day for team India, he played selfishly and scored just 37 runs off 59 balls. At the end of the match, England won the game by 86 runs and Dhoni was blamed for Team India’s defeat.
2. Dinesh Karthik vs Sri Lanka, 2009:
Dinesh Karthik was at the receiving end of the criticism despite scoring the winning runs against Sri Lanka in 2009 because he prevented the legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar from scoring a century. Team India was chasing a target of 240 runs. Indian opener Virender Sehwag got dismissed early and after him, the wickets kept falling.
Dinesh Karthik helped team India score runs for team India along with the help of Sachin Tendulkar. In the last over, when Sachin was on strike, Sachin smashed the boundary off the first ball and gave the strike to Dinesh Karthik. Sachin’s score at that time was 96 runs, however, instead of giving the strike to Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik smashed a boundary and won the game for team India.
3. Sunil Gavaskar vs England, 1975:
Sunil Gavaskar is regarded as a true legend but his act of selfishness in the year 1975, which still lingers on as a painful memory in the minds of every Indian cricket fan. India was chasing as the target of 334 runs. India started off to a wobbly start and the first three wickets fall down rapidly after which Gavaskar came out to bat.
During his knock, Sunil Gavaskar played an extremely selfish knock of 36 runs in a mammoth 176 balls. Later after his knock, Gavaskar claimed that the wicket was slow. It was due to Sunil Gavaskar’s selfish innings, India lost the game by a whopping margin of 202 runs.
4. Sachin Tendulkar vs Bangladesh, 2012:
Sachin Tendulkar, who is regarded as the greatest cricketer to have played the game for team India, has also played a selfish knock in his career. The team India was playing against Bangladesh and were asked to bat first. Team India lost Gautam Gambhir early in the game, after which Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli stitched 148-run partnership.
To ensure he scores his 100th ton, Sachin Tendulkar kept on going with a slow knock, even after the dismissal of Virat Kohli. This eventually made Bangladesh won that match by five wickets.
5. Ravi Shastri vs Australia, 1992:
Ravi Shastri’s selfish knock against Australia in 1992 is one of the most infamous knocks of his career. During the India vs Australia in the ICC World Cup 1992, team India was chasing the target of 236 off 47 overs due to rain. Ravi Shastri tried to win the game for India but instead played an extremely slow inning of 25 runs off 67 balls. His knock costed team India as they had to taste defeat by just one run.
