Generally, the international players don’t often speak against their teammates publicly and even if there are any issues within the camp, they usually solve it behind the scenes, but there have been certain instances in the past where the communication gap between the players got so wide that a player openly criticized another player from his own camp in public.
It has happened in Indian cricket as well that the players have come out and have used harsh words for their teammates while talking to the media. Here are the 5 most controversial remarks passed by Indian players –
#1 Dhoni’s slow fielders remark during the CB series of 2012:
MS Dhoni had said during the CB series in Australia in 2012 that India’s three top order batsmen Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir were slow fielders and that’s why he could not play them together.
Dhoni had said that the top 3 would be rotated and only two of them would play at once. The third place would go to a youngster who would be sharper in the field and save runs for the side.
#2 Sehwag’s response to Dhoni:
Sehwag was obviously not very happy with the fact that Dhoni had referred to him as a slow fielder. So when Dhoni got suspended for one match in the middle of the CB series because of slow over rate, Sehwag got the captaincy and he dropped a youngster to play all three of Sachin, Gambhir and himself together.
Later in the press conference when Sehwag was asked about Dhoni’s “slow fielder” remark, he said, “Did you see my catch?” Sehwag had, incidentally, taken a wonderful diving catch in that game at the short-midwicket position.
#3 Gambhir’s remark on Dhoni’s innings:
In one of the games of the same CB series in 2012, both Gambhir and Dhoni scored half-centuries for India and the men in blue managed to beat the home team Australia in a close game that went right down to the last over.
But, Gambhir was not very happy with the way Dhoni batted towards the end of that game. He clearly suggested in the press conference that the game should never have gone to the last over and should have been finished much earlier.
#4 Kumble’s statement while resigning as India coach:
Anil Kumble produced some good results during his one-year stint as the coach of the Indian cricket team, but he surprisingly stepped down from his position after the Champions Trophy 2017.
Releasing a statement on social media, Kumble clearly said that he was resigning from his position because the captain Virat Kohli had “reservations” about his coaching style.
After Kumble resigned, Kohli had to take quite a bit of flak from the Indian fans for not respecting the seniors.
#5 Manjrekar’s remark on Jadeja:
Sanjay Manjrekar had passed a very controversial remark on Ravindra Jadeja during ODI World Cup 2019. The former Indian batsman had called Jadeja a “bits and pieces” player while commentating in one of the games.
But, that statement didn’t age well for Manjrekar as Jadeja shined with both bat and ball in the semi-final of the World Cup against New Zealand and took India very close to the victory from an impossible situation.
