Sledging has becomed one of the integral parts of world cricket. History has it, the seeds of sledging was sown in Adelaide Oval during the 60s perhaps but now every player in his career either involves or faces this act of intimidating opponents. The modern sledging is more of an art, it involves insulting the opponent without being caught. The Aussies had started this but in modern day cricket sledging has became the boardroom discussion of every team. The top sledges of the modern cricketing era are featuring on this list along with their Youtube links, have a look of this effective yet deadly technique.
#1 Andrew Flintoff vs Tino Best
The West Indian speedster is known for hisfiery nature. Freddie Flintoff though, ended up winning this sledge battle. Tino Best started off by taunting Flintoff and he replied rather sheepishly, “This game has funny way of bitting back.”
Later, when the West Indian came to bat down the order, Flintoff teased: “Mind the windows Tino”. Best indeed jumped out of his crease and took a wild swing at Giles and was stumped. Flintoff, standing in the slips had the final brust of laughter.
#2 James Anderson vs Mitchell Johnson
Ashes have always been a mental game other than just the mere the game of cricket. England and James Anderson were struggling to get tail-enders walking and they were on a wicket drought. Mitchell Johnson at the non-striker’s end provoked Anderson about not get wickets. Next ball up Anderson cleared up Ryan Harris with a great delivery and signaled a mere “Shush” at Johnson. Check out the video above.
#3 Glenn McGrath vs Sachin Tendulkar
In the battle of legends, both Sachin and McGrath were funny to watch. Charging in at Sachin, McGrath bowled a series of bouncers before bowling a bodyline which Sachin ducked perfectly. McGrath came down the pitch and intimidated Sachin to play a hook. Tendulkar was unmoved with a stern look on his face. Next ball in, McGrath bowled the same line and again Sachin was stiff but the ordeal was indeed pumping.
#4 Shaun Pollock vs Kumar Sangakkara
Five wickets down while chasing in a World Cup match, Shaun Pollock came to bat on his home turf. The great South African all-rounder faced some grilling by Kumar Sangakkara standing behind the stumps.
Sangakkara tried to unnerve Pollock by reminding him of the situation he was in and the eyes that are watching him play. It was a clean and fun sledge that went off quite well.
#5 Glenn McGrath vs Ramnaresh Sarwan
This maybe the nastiest of all sledges. Back in 2003 the Australian side was touring the West Indies when during the 4th test in Antigua this incident happened. Sarwan was aligning the West Indies to a high 4th innings chase of 417. McGrath tried to sledge Sarwan until things got ugly (at 8;43 mark in the video) with fingers pointing and charging.
McGrath asked, “What does Lara’s D tastes like?” ; to which Sarwan replied, “ I don’t know, ask your wife”. McGrath was hurt as at that time his wife Jane was pretty ill with cancer. The sledge almost turned ugly before the umpires intervened.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download Cric Rocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more!
