5 best paybacks by Indian Players

Cricket is a gentleman's game. Every player tries to maintain the spirit of the game. But the on-field temperature sometimes rises when both teams take the field. The players get engaged in a healthy conversation and soon the conversation evolves into a vigorous fight. They start exchanging verbal volleys which more often than not cross the acceptable line.

The Aussies once used to be popular in this art but in the current time, every team has a certain brand of cricket and all of them want to show their dominance when they are battling it out on the cricket field.

The Indian Cricket Team has also given a fair share of controversies in the history of cricket. Though the team members do not use to get into fights in the olden days; the past two decades have seen the angry smirkish and ill-tempered behaviour for innumerable times. The team has seen a plethora of ugly fights.

But what’s the best thing is that the Men In Blue don’t reply to the sledging with another abuse but instead pay it back by their performance and make the opponent regret. On many occasions, when the circumstances and testosterone together caused tempers to fray, the Indian Cricketers decided to increase the tempo of their game and replied back in style.

Although there have been many occasions when such kind of instances took place, the following 5 brawls deserve to make it on the list the most.

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#1 Venkatesh Prasad vs Aamer Sohail

India vs Pakistan has always been the fiercest rivalry of world cricket and it was yet again proved in this match.

All the cricket fanatics were just going crazy after hearing that it’s going to be India vs Pakistan in the Quarter-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996. The hosts, India, won the toss and elected to bat first. With the help of Navjot Singh Sidhu’s fighting 93 and Ajay Jadeja’s 45-runs’ blitz, India posted a decent total of 287.

Pakistan was off to a blazing start as Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail made a partnership of 84 runs in the first 10 overs. Anwar got out on the score of 84 runs but the Stand-In captain, Aamer Sohail continued the damage at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

All of a sudden, on the second-last ball of the 15th over, a moment came when Aamer whacked Srinath’s delivery for a four and then charged his bat towards the bowler as if he was saying, “Go fetch that”. Sohail tried to repeat the same on the next ball but the tables turned as the pumped-up Venkatesh Srinath clean bowled Pakistan’s skipper. The fans erupted in Joy as Sohail was walking back to the pavilion.

#2 Sourav Ganguly vs Andrew Flintoff

Sourav Ganguly has arguably been one of the most fearless cricketers to ever play for India and the 2002 Natwest Series’ final at Lords was a sublime proof of that.

England won the toss and opted to bat first. Two scintillating centuries from the English opener Trescothick and the skipper Nasser Hussain helped England to post a mammoth total of 325 runs by the end of 50 overs.

Sehwag and Ganguly gave India a decent start but as soon as they both went back to the pavilion, an Indian batting collapse took place. Mongia went back on the score of 9 runs which was followed by the early dismissals of Sachin and Dravid as well. Half of the Indian side was back into the dugout on the score of 146 runs.

Then came Mohammad Kaif with Yuvraj Singh on the other end and the rest, as they say, is history. The once-in-a-lifetime partnership from both the batsmen put the match in India’s favour. Though Yuvraj got out on the score of 69, Kaif remained not out on 87.

As Kaif and Zaheer ran for the winning runs, The Indian Skipper Sourav Ganguly celebrated by taking off his shirt, at Lord's balcony. This was in return to the shirtless celebrations did by Andrew Flintoff when England defeated India at Mumbai. With this, Dada gave a fitting reply to the Britishers and gifted his fans, an unforgettable moment that they’ll cherish forever.

#3 Yuvraj Singh vs Andrew Flintoff

No Indian Cricket fan can ever forget this match. This the game when Yuvraj Singh’s 6-ball blitz created history in world cricket. A throwback to one of the most sensational T20I game in the history of Indian Cricket.

The young Indian brigade led by MS Dhoni has had a roller-coaster ride thus far in the Inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup as they, before meeting England had seen, An abandoned match, A tie, A bowl out, 2 Victories and a defeat. India, in this match, won the toss and elected to bat first. Both the openers scored half-centuries and provided a platform for the middle and lower order.

But soon, the top 3 were back into the dugout on the score of 155 runs. MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh were given the finishing responsibilities. Just before the Penultimate over, Yuvraj Singh and Andrew Flintoff had an exchange of verbal volleys which made Yuvraj angry. (In a recent interview, he also mentioned that how he felt after the fight. He said, "It got me really worked up. I was really angry and I just wanted to hit every ball out of the ground, just give it back.”)

The angry Yuvraj Singh was all set to fire it out in the Penultimate over of the game. And What happened on the next six balls is just history. Yuvraj Singh whacked all the six balls for Sixers and scored a total of 36 runs in the over.

The brute force from which he smashed the balls just made people chortle at the bowler. England’s plan of provoking Yuvi backfired and turned out to be a sin for the team. India finished their innings on the score of 218 runs.

England had to chase a mammoth target and their batsmen gave a tough fight but they eventually lost the match.

#4 S Sreesanth vs Andre Nel

This match saw one of the most hilarious celebrations in the history of cricket. When India toured South Africa in 2006, the second innings of the first test saw something that no one can ever forget.

The game was played at Wanderers, Johannesburg and the Men in Blue bundled out the hosts on just 84 runs in the first innings. Instead of enforcing the follow-on, India decided to play the second innings. No Indian batsmen apart from VVS Laxman crossed the 50 runs’ landmark.

Amidst all these, a moment came when S Sreesanth who came in to bat at no. 10 was sledged by the Protea pacer Andre Nel. As soon as Sreesanth came out to bat, Nel came towards him and said, “I can smell blood. You do not have the guts.” Nel, showing his emblem again said, “I am playing for this. You are a scared fellow, rabbit. I will get you next ball”. Sreesanth didn’t do anything and just walked towards the crease.

While Nel, on the other hand, asked his captain, Mark Boucher, to stay back and removed the short leg fielder as well. Sreesanth, being a fast bowler, knew Andre was going to bowl a bouncer.

Sreesanth swung his bat and sent the ball into the stands. The exasperated and Befuddled Andre Nel turned back without giving any reactions but just after few seconds, Sreesanth started to dance like a kid. This left everyone on a split. India went on to win the match and Sreesanth’s celebration turned out to be a nightmare for the South African Players.

#5 Virat Kohli vs Mitchell Johnson

Virat Kohli and Mitchell Johnson have certainly been one of the most aggressive players of their respective nation. The brand of cricket for both the players is pretty much same. And the much-expected dearth of drama and action between the two took place when India took on Australia at Adelaide in 2014.

On the 3rd day of the first test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014, A moment came when Mitchell Johnson was given the ball and Virat Kohli was batting at the score of 84*. Kohli tried to defence a ball and Johnson, in the heat of the moment, tried to run him out but ended up hitting the batsman. Kohli was in pain but didn’t say anything to the bowler.

He instead replied with his bat and scored the second century of the match. Although, Kohli expressed his views in the press conference and said, “I respect quite a few of them (OZ players) but someone who doesn’t respect me, I’ve got no reason to respect him.”

He also added, “It was going on throughout the day. They were calling me a spoiled brat and I said ‘maybe that’s the way I am, and I know you guys hate me’,” He also explained how aggression improves his game. “It worked in my favour I guess. “I like playing against Australia because it’s very hard for them to stay calm and I don’t mind an argument on the field.”

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Which of these is the most memorable one? Let us know in the comments section below!