Five Cricketers Whose Fight With Respective Boards Ruined Their Career

Cricketers fighting with their respective boards haven’t been new. In this report, we will have a look on the five cricketers whose career ended because of a fight with their national boards. There have been issues between the boards and the players over various issues. Although, many times the issues get resolved, sometimes, they may take a turn for the bad. The impact of these results in poor team unity, individual differences among members, and many more.

However, the consequences have been serious in some cases. So much so, that few players’ careers have ended as a result of a disturbing state between the cricketers and their boards.

Well, a recent example of this saga is the Ambati Rayudu case. Rayudu’s international career has now ended and it almost seems a rare possibility that he’ll don the Indian colours ever.

Let’s take a look at five cricketers whose fight with the board ended their cricketing careers.

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Five Cricketers Whose Fight With Their Board Ruined Their Career

Gautam Gambhir:

The first among the five cricketers is Gautam Gambhir. He is one of the best Indian cricketers ever. His contribution to Indian cricket has been equally significant. No Indian fan can forget his innings in the final match of T20 World cup 2007 and the ODI world cup 2011. He has also had a mesmerizing Test career which includes a few records.

All those efforts would have helped him to bag at least a couple of chances more. But, his rift with the then Indian captain MS Dhoni ad surfaced publically and neither Dhoni nor the board allowed him to compete again in a senior game at least until Dhoni was the captain.

Instead, they gave chances to Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. The duo went on to score runs consistently and cemented their place in the team.

Gambhir announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on 3rd December 2018. Gambhir went on to score 112 in his final innings, his 43rd century in first-class cricket.

Kevin Pietersen:

Kevin Pietersen has been one of England’s most destructive batsmen in recent times. His grit, determination, and dedication towards the sport can be witnessed by the multiple masterclasses that he has played throughout his career.

However, everything wasn’t the same for him from the England Cricket Board (ECB).

They labelled him as a selfish batsman and went on to say that he wasn’t a team player. After a humiliating loss against Australia in the Ashes, Pietersen was made the scapegoat. The board decided that KP was nearing the end of his career and was thrown away from the team.

However, the reality was different as KP was not the actual reason behind England’s humiliating loss.

Besides that, Pietersen also had issues with the skipper Andrew Strauss and the head coach Andy Flower.

Dwayne Bravo:

Dwayne Bravo was one of those players who were involved in direct conflict with the Board. The dispute between Dwayne Bravo and the West Indies Cricket Board led to his ouster from the team, otherwise, the skipper of the team.

Bravo, along with other Windies players refused to play further matches because of non-payment of the salaries of the players when Indies toured India in 2014.  This was the point when the row between Bravo and the board broadened.

Bravo also refused to leave IPL in between to play domestic matches in WI. Eventually, there was no choice for Bravo rather than resigning from International cricket.

In 2019, he came out of retirement to play in the ICC T20 World Cup in 2020. But, it seems a rare possibility that he will be given further chances after the World Cup.

Shoaib Akhtar:

Shoaib Akhtar was one of the most fearsome pacers of his time in international cricket. Akhtar bowled deliveries at a serious pace and he could swing the ball both ways. He is still one of the most successful Pakistani bowlers.

However, he was treated harshly by the management. The team management overlooked him in the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 against India.

The prime reason behind this was Shahid Afridi wanted Wahab Riaz in the final eleven and the team went along with Afridi’s choice.

Later, he was never given a chance which forced him to call down the curtains on an illustrious career.

Ambati Rayudu:

The last of the five cricketers is Ambati Rayudu. He is the latest victim of the petty politics in Indian cricket. Rayudu has had a topsy-turvy career throughout and has faced problems from the national selection panel as well. The major aspect of his retirement was World Cup snub.

Initially, he was named as the standby player in ICC World Cup 2019. But, when Vijay Shankar suffered an injury, they picked Rishabh Pant over Rayudu.

After the incident, Rayudu posted a sarcastic tweet for team India’s management which saw the end of his stint and his retirement from international cricket.

These were the five cricketers whose cricketing career suffered a huge loss because of their fight with the cricket boards.

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