5 Instances When Teammates Fought Against Each Other On The Field

Verbal altercations, gestures of disagreement and even physical arguments are nothing new in sports. Even in the gentleman’s game, not so gentlemen behaviour have been witnessed. From Kieron Pollard trying to throw a bat on Mitchell Starc to Dennis Lillee launching a kick on Javed Miandad, the game of cricket has evolved to be boorish at times.

However, the management comes in a spot of bother when heated exchanges take place between individuals on the same side. The whole point of playing as a team to win the match gets defeated. The disputes between teammates can spoil the result of the encounter and dent the spirit of the whole side. While such instances don’t occur as often as one may think, there still exist a few cases.

We at Cricket Addictor will take a look at the five instances in which things slightly went overboard between teammates on the cricket field:

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Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja

In the year 2013, India won the Champions Trophy after which they travelled to the Carribean Islands to face Sri Lanka and the Windies in the tri-series. The series was very well known for MS Dhoni winning the final for India through by hitting the second last ball for a six.

However, one more talking point was the altercation between Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja during a group match against the hosts. During Windies’ run-chase of 274 from 39 overs, Suresh Raina misjudged a catch off Jadeja’s bowling that led to the bowler blast his teammate on the field. Suresh Raina clearly wasn’t impressed with all the ranting on him by Jadeja.

After Jadeja bagged the wicket, the two seemed to have a torrid argument. The issue had snowballed so much that stand-in captain Virat Kohli had to intervene between them to break them off. No stern action was taken against them, however, as per reports, Raina was seen talking to Jadeja, trying to explain him the situation about the dropped catch. 

Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma

India came to Australia in 2018 with their best chance to win their first Test series down under. Eventually, they convincingly beat Australia to create history. During the second Test in Perth, which was the only match that India lost, Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma were involved in an altercation.

There existed no definite explanation as to why the rift between the two occurred. Ravindra Jadeja came in as a substitute fielder in the game. Gradually Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja were seen pointing fingers at each other. It looked like Ishant had a problem with Jadeja’s fielding position.

Consequently, the duo came face to face before getting separated by Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammad Shami. Ricky Ponting, who was doing commentary for Channel 7, said “Who knows what they’re talking about, it does seem very animated, there’s lots of finger-pointing. Things have obviously got a little bit heated between these two.”

MS Dhoni and Ashish Nehra

MS Dhoni is hardly someone whose name comes up when verbal altercations come into the picture. In an ODI series in 2005 against Pakistan, Ashish Nehra hurled abuses on MS Dhoni when he missed a catch behind the stumps. To make things worse, the ball scurried away to the boundary.

The delivery was a good length one bowled to Shahid Afridi, who was batting on 10 that time. The good length ball brushed the edge of Afridi’s bat, but Dhoni failed to cling on to the catch. The left-arm speedster lashed out on the wicketkeeper for not holding on to the catch.

Later, Ashish Nehra clarified in an interview with Jatin Sapru by saying that it came in the heat of the movement. “That was in the heat of the moment. I know you are speaking about Mahendra Singh Dhoni video. That video became more popular when Mahendra Singh Dhoni reached where he is now.“

Ambati Rayudu and Harbhajan Singh

Ambati Rayudu and Harbhajan Singh were part of Mumbai Indians at first. The duo was roped in by Chennai Super Kings in the year 2018 and proved to be productive for both the franchises. They also share a cordial relationship; however, both of them had a tiff on the field in the year 2016.

In the match against Pune Supergiants in the 11th over, Saurabh Tiwary pulled a delivery to deep midwicket off Harbhajan Singh. However, Rayudu failed to stop a boundary despite a gallant effort. The Turbanator was quick to vent his anger on teammate Rayudu. Rayudu also fired back on the lashing by Harbhajan Singh.

A couple of years later, the two admitted that it was an off-field thing, and the incident didn’t affect their relationship.

Kagiso Rabada and Quinton de Kock

The South Africans endured a hard time in all three Tests in their tour to India. Virat Kohli’s men made the tourists toil hard every single inning. After Rohit Sharma’s twin hundreds in the first Test, Virat Kohli’s double hundred in Pune in the second Test broke the South African’s spirits.

With the Indian skipper on the song, tensions boiled between Proteas’ pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. After Ravindra Jadeja defended a delivery from Rabada, he threw the ball to the keeper in anger. De Kock wasn’t paying attention and fumbled the throw by the bowler. The fumble allowed Jadeja and Kohli to sneak a single. It clearly pricked Rabada’s nerve and slammed De Kock by engaging with him in a war of words.

The wicketkeeper also gave it back to his teammate and said aggressively to the pacer, asking him “to be smarter.” India eventually won the second Test and the subsequent one by an innings to take the series by 3-0 margin.