5 Dressing Room Rivalries That Stained Indian Cricket

Cricket in India is none less than a religion. Everyone associated with the cricketing fraternity in India is inclined so much towards the sport that some give it an analogy of war. The 1983 World Cup win by the Indian Cricket Team proved to be a massive factor behind Cricket’s emergence in India and the broadcasting that shifted to private players in the 90s, made sure India becomes one of the greatest cricketing nations of the world.

Over the years, team India has produced a generation of cricketing superstars who have gone on to rule world cricket in their respective eras. The fame, the money and the respect that comes along with can easily be considered one of the driving factors behind Indian cricketers doing well on the global stage. However, one drawback that it carries is the infight among teammates and silent rivalries that stain the Gentleman’s game.

Let’s take a look at the 5 dressing room rivalries that Indian cricket has been involved in over the years and how it has gone on to affect the team’s performance in the international circuit.

5 Dressing Room Rivalries That Stained Indian Cricket

5. Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar

The two pioneers of Indian cricket, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar, have been extremely jovial with each other throughout their careers. However, one massive blow that dented their relation came back in 1984 when the England team toured India. Kapil Dev was in his prime in 1984 as he led India to a historic World Cup win in the previous year,

In the third Test of the England series, Kapil Dev was dropped from the team due to a rash shot that he played in the second Test of the series which was held at Delhi. Notably, India were heading to a draw in the second Test and Kapil played a rash shot on the final day of the Test and got out which irked the selection committee which was then headed by Chandu Borde.

However, Sunil Gavaskar, the then captain of the India side was also a part of the same selection committee and as per media reports, Kapil had alleged Gavaskar of dropping him from the third Test. However, Gavaskar cleared the air about the entire scenario in 2001 and denied any such move from his end.

4. Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohammed Azharuddin

It was in 1989 when the Men in Blue toured West Indies. One of the most forgetful outings took place in the history of Indian cricket as they were completely thrashed by the Caribbean. Team India lost the Test series 4-0 and the ODI series 5-0. Vengsarkar wasn’t happy with the team and in particular, Mohammad Azharuddin, who was dismissed playing bad shots throughout the tour.

Kapil Dev later revealed in his book titled, “Straight from the Heart” that Dilip Vengsarkar had shouted publically at Mohammad Azharuddin for one of his cheap dismissals. Later on, Vengsarkar also fired shots at Azhar stating, “If people are frightened of fast bowling, they should not play Test cricket.”

3. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid

One of the most infamous incidents in the history of Indian cricket took place in Pakistan in 2004. In the first Test of the series in Multan, the Men in Blue were in the driver’s seat, having scored 675 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Sachin Tendulkar was closing in on his fourth double century in Tets cricket when the Indian captain, Rahul Dravid decided to declare the innings when Sachin was on an individual score of 194 runs.

This not only shocked Sachin Tendulkar but the entire cricketing fraternity as it was quite unlike a decision by Rahul Dravid. Tendulkar too had mentioned after the game that he was disappointed by the decision and in his autobiography titled, ‘Playing It My Way’, Sachinhad stated that he was shocked by the decision and he wanted Rahul to stay away from him off the field committing to perform his on-field duties with the same sincerity and responsibility.

2. Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid

The present BCCI President and the head coach of the India National Cricket Team, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid have been the best of friends on and off the cricketing field. However, it was the Greg Chapell era that brought a lot of defaming to Indian cricket as Chappell certainly had some agenda against a few players of the senior national team.

One among them was the captain of the team, Sourav Ganguly himself. It is widely known how Greg Chapell use his cheap tricks to strip Ganguly off captaincy and reportedly, this also created a rift between Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, who was the vice-captain of the team then. After dropping Ganguly from the team and removing him from captaincy, Greg Chapell vouched for Rahul Dravid to lead India which eventually Dravid did.

However, neither Ganguly nor Dravid have gone on to speak a word against each other in public and have stayed away from all such allegations throughout their stint.

1. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma

The two modern-day greats of Indian cricket, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been the focal point of conversation in Indian cricket for the last couple of years for all the bad reasons. Notably, the rift between the two started after India were knocked out of the ICC 2019 ODI World Cup as Rohit seemed unhappy with some of the decisions taken by the captain Virat Kohli and the team management.

Reports had then stated that there was a huge bust-up between the two and Virat seemed adamant to accept the mistakes he made. The rift has since then gone on to buildup and Rohit’s appointment as the new limited-overs captain has just added fuel to the fire. Both, Rohit and Virat have maintained good relations for the record but the recent turn of events has surely stained Indian cricket and the next couple of months could turn out to be even more interesting.