Six Players Who Performed Incredibly Well With Sheer Aggression

Ever since the inception of gentleman’s game cricket, sledging has been a permanent fixture in the game. The performance is still termed as a  ‘primary’ thing when it comes to players, but insulting the opposition has been part and parcel of the game.

Especially, in the modern time, we have seen several players who tend to perform well when there is the fire in the belly.

Getting on verbal duels with the opposition wasn’t a cup of tea for the subcontinent players during the yesteryears.

However, it has totally become a different proposition nowadays.

The Australian players were known to be the actual sledgers and taking on their opposition teams proved to be quite normal for all of them. However, the modern-day trend has been a lot different.

Now, without wasting any time let us have a look at five players who perform to their best when they are angry:

Virat Kohli:

Now, the first name which comes to my mind in the modern generation is none other than the Indian skipper Virat Kohli. Needling the opposition tends to get the best out of Kohli. He feeds on the competition. On several occasions, we have witnessed Kohli being involved in an altercation with opposition players.

Delhi-based batsman Kohli has become more matured player now than being before, but the anger doesn’t seem to get away from Kohli.

Till now, he gets into multiple altercations with opposition players and can be seen using some abusive language on the ground.

However, the altercations never seemed to have affected him and it tends to get the better out of him.

Gautam Gambhir:

The out of favour Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir is one such player who has been misunderstood at times.

An aggressive top-order batsman is always direct at the face of the opposition and never shies away from speaking his heart out.

Whether it is a cricket ground or off the field, he always speaks from within. That is the reason why he is being misunderstood from time-to-time.

The southpaw exchanged words with players like Simon Katich, Shahid Afridi, and Kamran Akmal. Even once during the Indian Premier League (IPL), Gambhir had a bizarre moment of anguish with his one time Delhi teammate Virat Kohli.

However, anger has never got the better of him. It has made him strong and has helped him score bulk of runs for both the national team and the domestic teams.

Ricky Ponting:

The former Australian two-time World Cup-winning skipper Ricky Ponting was one of the biggest sledgers of the game during his prime.

One of the greatest batsmen of all time, Ponting was also one whose verbal duels with oppositions is well known among cricketing aficionados.

Ponting got into several altercations and verbal duels. He had a nature of winning at all cost which really took the sportsman spirit out of the game. He is one of the greatest batsmen of all time and played one of the greatest knock of the World Cup during the final in 2003.

Matthew Hayden:

The former Australian opener Matthew Hayden was one of the most prolific run scorers in subcontinental conditions. He got a great measure of the Indian pitches and scored a bulk of runs there.

However, he was a big-time sledger as well. Standing at slip cordon he used to take on opposition players with his verbal volleys.

Many former players have told their sledging stories of Hayden. However very few know that Hayden is a totally different guy when it comes to off the field. He is very close friends with several Indian players especially after spending quality time with them during his IPL stint.

However, when it came to the field, Hayden always took a dig at their opposition.

Harbhajan Singh:

The former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was one of those Indian players. He loved getting into verbal fights with opposition players.

Harbhajan had a huge story with Andrew Symonds during India’s tour of Australia in 2008. Officials suspended Symonds for third Test at Perth. Interestingly, India went on to win that game in a dramatic situation.

Fondly known as ‘Bhajji’, he always got into several verbal duels. Bhajji is one of the greatest spinners to have played the game and is the second leading wicket-taker from India.

Yuvraj Singh: 

The southpaw is one of the most stylish batsmen the world has ever seen. The swing of his bat is one of the most pleasing sights to watch. Yuvi was also known as a temperamental guy when he was part of the Indian team. He got into many verbal volleys with his opposition. The biggest verbal duel was with Andrew Flintoff during the ICC World Twenty20 in 2007. On that very day, Yuvraj scripted history and became the only batsman in the world to smash 6 sixes in consecutive deliveries.

Just before the start of that fateful over of Stuart Broad, Flintoff had an alteration with Yuvraj. Getting charged, the southpaw smashed Broad through all parts of the ground which included 6 sixes in the over.