Instances When Cricketers Could Not Control Their Emotions On The Field

”Cricket is just a game,” they say. ”Why cry over it when your favorite player fails or your team loses a match? They don’t even care, it’s all about the money”. This is the most common argument given by a non-cricket fan whenever I get sad and emotional after Team India loses any fixture.

But, time and again, we have seen several instances on the field where cricketers have shown that cricket isn’t just a game, it’s an emotion.

On that note, here’s a look at instances when cricketers couldn’t control their tears on the field:

Shafali Verma- ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final, 2020

The 16-year-old swashbuckling opening batter from Rohtak, Shafali Verma made heads turn with her free-spirited approach while batting and of course her disdainful stroke play during the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia.

Verma’s fireworks and the all-round performance of the bowlers played a major role in India reaching the final of the quadrennial event where they took on defending champions Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

But, unfortunately, Shafali and the rest of the Indian team had an off-day against the world champions as they failed to rise to the occasion in front of 86,000 people at the ‘G.

India were eventually humbled and during the post-match presentation, young Shafali couldn’t hold back her tears.

Inzamam-ul-Haq’s tearful exit from ODI cricket

The 2007 World Cup proved to be a disaster for arch-rivals India and Pakistan as the two former world champions bowed out of the tournament in the group stage itself.

While India were beaten by Bangladesh and then Sri Lanka, Pakistan went down against the host West Indies before inexplicably losing to Ireland.

To make matters worse for the Inzamam-ul-Haq-led Pakistan, the 1992 world champions lost their head coach Bob Woolmer in mysterious circumstances the following day.

To round off what was an extraordinary weekend for Pakistan cricket, Inzamam-ul-Haq stepped down as Test captain besides announcing that the dead rubber game against Zimbabwe would be his last in the ODI format.

And, so when he was dismissed against Zimbabwe, the champion cricketer couldn’t hold back his emotions and endured a tearful exit from white-ball cricket.

Master Blaster bids an emotional farewell

Master Blaster bowed out of international cricket following his 200th Test match against the West Indies at his home ground in Mumbai to mark the end of a glorious 24-year-old career.

Following the end of the Test match, which India won comfortably, an emotional Tendulkar went to greet the 22-yard strip for one last time and amid an emotional Wankhede crowd, one could see tears in the God of cricket’s eyes as he walked into the sunset after having dominated the game for 24 years.

The entire South African team breaks down following the 2015 semi-final defeat to New Zealand

AB de Villiers cried, Morne Morkel was inconsolable, Dale Steyn was distressed and shattered after he conceded a six against Grant Elliot in the final over to ensure that the Proteas once again choked in a knockout encounter.

It was yet another case of South Africa failing to capitalize and win the crucial moments during New Zealand’s run-chase of 299 in a 43-over-a-side rain-affected encounter as they dropped multiple catches and run-out opportunities.

In the end, Grant Elliot made them pay for it as he smoked Dale Steyn for a six off the penultimate delivery to inflict yet another heartbreak on the Proteas.

South Africa had endured plenty of heartbreaks during their history and the outpouring of emotions after their latest ‘s0-close-yet-s0-far’ moment testified that to the hilt.

Virat Kohli gets emotional during India v South Africa 2012 T20 WC encounter

Virat Kohli is one of those cricketers who wears his emotions on his sleeve and you can almost always get a fair idea about his team’s position in the match by merely looking at his facial expressions.

Back in 2012, a young Virat Kohli could not control his emotions after India failed to achieve the requisite condition to qualify for the semi-finals of the World T20.

Thanks to their heavy defeat to Australia in the first match of the Super-8, India’s NRR had taken a massive beating and even though they managed to win their next game against Pakistan by a comfortable margin, they still had to ensure they win by a huge margin against South Africa in their last fixture.

Batting first, India scored 6/152 in 20 overs which meant that they had to ensure that they win the game by at least 30 runs to leapfrog Pakistan and qualify for the top-4.

They, however, failed to do so and after South Africa breached their initial target of 121, Virat Kohli couldn’t control himself and started crying profusely on the field.

India eventually won what turned out to be an arse-nipper in the end by 1 run.

Vinod Kambli, 1996 World Cup semi-final vs Sri Lanka, Kolkata

The sight of Vinod Kamboj crying inconsolably amid a rampaging Eden Gardens crowd as match-referee Clive Lloyd awarded the match to Sri Lanka due to the ruckus that the crowd had made remains one of the most infamous moments in Indian cricket history.

It all happened during the 1996 World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka in front of a packed Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Chasing 252 to win on what a minefield of a pitch, India were going at great guns at 1/98 thanks to a rampaging Sachin Tendulkar.

But, as soon as Tendulkar was stumped on a wide-off Sanath Jayasuriya, India’s worst nightmare came true as the middle-order capitulated in stunning fashion, leaving them reeling at 8/120.

By then, the Eden Gardens had had enough and they proceeded to create a ruckus by throwing bottles on the ground besides lighting fire in the stadium.

Match Referee Clive Lloyd had had enough of it and he decided to award the game to Sri Lanka, and the sight of Kambli crying like a child as he walked off the field still remains one of the most haunting images for an Indian fan of the 90s.

Also Read: Four Reasons Why India Can Win The ICC World Test Championship Final