9 Dressing Room Secrets Of Indian Cricket Team

Indian cricket team is arguably the most popular team in the sport. However, the fans miss so much about the players and what happens in the dressing room. But then again, we have quite a number of interesting stories from the dressing room.

Most of the revelations happen during the launch of a biography or an interview with the players. Even if we follow cricket very passionately,  there are still many incidents that the fans are unaware of. Here are the top 9 dressing room incidents that happened behind the camera.

1. Yuvraj Singh Bullied MS Dhoni

Yuvraj Singh was one of the biggest pranksters in Indian dressing room. When MS Dhoni made his debut, he felt the wrath of Yuvraj Singh.

Yuvraj used to taunt Dhoni saying that anybody can hit fours and sixes. Then once Dhoni started playing big knocks, Yuvraj said that Test Matches are the ones a player needs to prove. However, one fine day Dhoni said, “That’s fine but tell me one thing, why are you always so angry.” After this moment, Dhoni and Yuvraj became the best buddies in Indian cricket team.

2. John Wright Grabbed Sehwag’s Collar

John Wright scripted India’s revival in world cricket with the help of Sourav Ganguly and other seniors during early 2000s. He was so passionate about making team strong that he grabbed Sehwag’s collar and blasted him.

This iconic incident took place during the NatWest series in 2002. Sehwag was getting out on silly shots after getting good starts. Fed up with those dismissals,  Wright warned Sehwag not to get out by playing a silly shot. He also told Rahul Dravid, “If that guy gets out to one more bad shot I’m going to really have a go at him”.

However, Sehwag was out again playing a poor shot and faced the repercussion.  Wright blasted Virender Sehwag. asking him to be more responsible.

3. Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary Handed The World Cup

Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary is arguably the biggest cricket fan in India. Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar acknowledged that by making a wonderful gesture to Sudhir after India’s word cup win in 2011.

He invited Sudhir to Indian dressing room and gave him the world cup trophy. It was a memorable day for probably the biggest Sachin fan on the planet. The team and Sachin Tendulkar did show great respect to Sudhir with that wonderful gesture.

4. Farokh Engineer, Sunil Gavaskar- Funny Incident 

Sunil Gavaskar is among the best batsmen ever to play cricket. He was the first player to breach 10000 run mark in Test cricket. Talking about the incident, Sunil Gavaskar had a very funny incident with Farokh Engineer.

In 1971 Farokh Engineer and Sunil Gavaskar were selected to play for the Rest of the world against Australia. The selection of Gavaskar was quite a surprise as he had debuted in the same year. Engineer then advised young Gavaskar saying, “Don’t get out for a duck as the walk back to the pavilion is the longest you will ever experience here in Melbourne.”

Funnily it was Engineer who was dismissed for a duck in the very first over in that match.

5. Dawood Ibrahim Visiting Indian Dressing Room

In 1986, during a game against Pakistan,  Dawood Ibrahim visited Indian dressing room. He was so powerful in those days, he got access to Indian dressing room without any issue.

Upon reaching the dressing room, Dawood offered players cars if they beat Pakistan the next day. However, captain Kapil Dev held Dawood by his collar and pushed him out of the dressing room.

6. Sourav Ganguly Pranked On April Fool’s Day

Sourav Ganguly is one of the most loved cricketers by his teammates. However, on an April Fool’s day, Yuvraj Singh decided to play a prank on his former India skipper.

Yuvraj Singh made a fake newspaper with headlines reading “Ganguly says Yuvraj and Harbhajan do not have a good attitude and were a nuisance in the dressing room”. Both the players confronted their skipper with the fake newspaper.

Ganguly was taken aback by the report and convinced the players that he did not say anything like that. However, both of them did not back off. But Rahul Dravid burst into laughter which revealed that it was a prank. Ganguly chased both the players once he knew the fact.

7. Sachin Tendulkar’s Motivation in 2003 World Cup Final

Team India bowlers were hit all around the park by Australia in 2003 World Cup final. With 359 runs on the board, India had a mountain to climb. This is when the legendary Sachin Tendulkar decided to lighten the mood in the dressing room.

He said: “Can we look to hit a boundary every over…. If we can so that makes it 200 runs of 50 balls and we would require the rest 160 from remaining 250 balls which does not seem so hard…”. Despite India losing the game by 125 runs, Sachin Tendulkar’s motivation is surely worth mentioning.

8. Sachin Tendulkar Incident in Multan 2004

Sachin Tendulkar was just 6 runs short of his double hundred against Pakistan in 2004. But then acting captain Rahul Dravid declared the innings, leaving everyone shell shocked.

Tendulkar was clearly furious with the decision. Many thought that he would shout as soon as he reached the Indian dressing room. However, he was very calm and did not create any scene about the declaration. On the other hand, he did not even speak a word on the matter.

Sachin only yelled at Dravid to “leave him alone”. John Wright and Sourav Ganguly later apologized to Sachin Tendulkar.

9. Sourav Ganguly Asked Yuvraj Singh To Open Against Australia

Yuvraj Singh made his debut into Indian cricket team during ICC Knockout cup in 2000. However, on the eve of Australia’s game, Ganguly came up to Yuvraj and asked him to open.

“kal open karega?” (will you open the innings tomorrow?),” Ganguly asked Yuvraj.

Being a new comer into the team, Yuvraj Singh said yes. However, seeing Yuvraj Singh getting ready early in the morning and practicing to open the innings, Sourav Ganguly revealed the prank.

Ganguly simply said: “mazaak kar raha tha main, 4 down aana” (I was kidding, come 4th down). Yuvraj Singh made a career defining 84 run knock against the mighty Aussies on that day.