5 Indian cricketers who were allegedly distracted by damsels while playing for the team

Cricket is a religion in India, and the emotions attached with it cannot be deciphered by the non-followers of the game. India’s win is followed by festival like celebrations and the defeats are often followed by a string of analysis. The emotional followers take the defeats way too personal and often tend to target the players or sometimes go on to troll their wives and girlfriends for the defeat.

There were reports which suggested that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will not be allowing wives and girlfriends to accompany the Indian cricketers during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Though, the BCCI rubbished the reports later on, criticisms for and against the same followed. As said, in India, it is the mama’s boy who rules, not girlfriend’s.

Without getting into the debate, let’s take a look at the cricketers who were allegedly distracted by damsels while playing for their team.

#1 Mohammad Azharuddin and Sangeeta Bijlani

The former Indian skipper was the hero of the nation till the Indian team's poor performance and low morale changed it all. Azhar was married and rumours of an affair with Sangeeta Bijlani were too strong to be ignored. Well, it wasn’t much of a concern till she was seen at the Eden Gardens, watching the India-SL semi-final, ICC World Cup 1996.

All agreed to the fact of Sangeeta being the reason for India’s loss and Azhar's disappointing performance. The defeat was followed by criticisms and Manoj Prabhakar commented on Azhar skipping the World Cup practices, saying. "I don't know what exercise he was doing and with whom".

Though, according to the reports, Azhar on the board’s permission took Sangeeta on tour, the former BCCI chief Madhavrao Scindia later said, "The example set by the captain is disappointing."

#2 Yuvraj Singh and Deepika Padukone

Yuvraj Singh was part of the Kings XI team in the IPL

The man, whose contribution in the ICC World Cup 2011 with the ball and bat helped team India to win the World Cup after 28 long years. Yuvraj Singh, after scoring 362 runs and picking up 15 wickets, was named as the Man of the Tournament. The world class player also became the victim of public criticism when he was briefly linked with the Bollywood actress, Deepika Padukone.

During India’s tour of Australia in 2008, both were seen dining together. It was the time when the six sixes of the 2007 T20 World Cup were still deep embedded. He was the hero to the nation but the disastrous performance in the test series which was supposed to establish Yuvraj in Indian middle order was unforgivable for the fans. Fans readily believed Deepika became the source of distraction for the man.

#3 Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma

Anushka Sharma had travelled to Australia to support Virat Kohli

The aggressive Delhi lad is a world-class player, and it is an absolute treasure to watch him play. Spectators are in awe when the player takes on the opposition and smashes sixes leading his team to the winning goal. With his eyes so focused and hands so quick, he is known to thrash opponents flawlessly. Then again, he is never away from criticisms for some reason or the other.

Kohli and Anushka Sharma seeing each other was an open secret for all. Just when the run machine failed to score during the semi-final of ICC World Cup 2015, people went mad.

Luckily or unluckily his lady love was also present to cheer team India. The brunt of blame was quickly put on her shoulder, the Twitter users target Anushka over Virat Kohli's poor performance. Abuses followed naming her as ‘evil temptress’ to tagging her as ‘deshdrohi’.

#4 Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore

Sharmila Tagore (L) and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (R) at an event

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi remains one of greatest ever captains of team India. The time when Pataudi played, scenarios were quite different. In those days girlfriends and wives were not allowed to accompany the cricketers or watch the cricket matches. But Sharmila Tagore, who was the Nawab’s girlfriend then, did go to England to watch him play.

The veteran actress mentioned, “On one or two occasions, it was believed that I was somehow responsible for his poor performance. It is believed that if you are an actor or a cricketer from a privileged background, then you're spoilt and an attention seeker.”

#5 Sourav Ganguly and Nagma

Sourav and Dona Ganguly celebrate the cricketer’s birthday

The former Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly’s alleged affair with South Indian actress Nagma gained prominence in early 2001. It was the time when team Indian was getting ready to play against Australia at home. Rumours spread that the two had visited a temple in South India and have also performed some puja that was meant for married couples.

Sourav Ganguly’s wife, Dona, had her say about the situation and was quoted by Sify, “It’s all rubbish. I’m extremely angry at the way some newspapers are trying to defame us. It’s unfortunate that Sourav become the victim of such things.”

Though, he denied it, a couple of years later, Nagma herself spoke about issue but did not take names. The actor was quoted by Savvy magazine as saying: “As long as there is no denial of each other’s existence in each other’s life, any person can say anything they want. There was a career at stake, besides other things, so one had to part. One had to weigh a lot of things, rather than be on an ego trip and insist on being together.”