5 times Team India's nice guys lost their cool on the field

Team India has produced some great cricketers over the years. And each individual has played the sport with his own unique style.

Current Team India captain Virat Kohli loves displaying his emotions on the cricket field, and you don’t need to be a mind reader to figure out his feelings when he is out in the middle. His predecessor MS Dhoni was exactly the opposite. He rarely gave away anything.

In the 90s as well, Team India had players with varied natures. If Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid rarely reacted, the likes of Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath were pretty open in expressing their frustration.

When Team India’s cool characters burst out

Over the years, there have been rare instances when the calm guys of Team India too have lost their cool and have given a piece of their mind to either the opposition or their own teammates. We recap five such instances.

#5 Venkatesh Prasad

Former Team India pacer Venkatesh Prasad rarely sledged during his international career, which lasted for seven years. He believed in running in and letting the ball do all the talking.

During the 1996 World Cup quarter-final against Pakistan in Bengaluru, though, the angry avatar of the otherwise genial Prasad came to the fore.

He was needled by Pakistan opener Aamir Sohail who, after crashing a boundary off Prasad, pointed his bat and fingers at the bowler and gestured that he would hit him there again.

Very next ball, an enraged Prasad ran in and knocked back Sohail’s off stump. The left-hander had lost concentration following his duel with the Indian bowler and went for a wild slog, only for Prasad to hit bullseye.

The pumped-up send-off Prasad gave Sohail after dismissing him remains one of the standout moments of India vs Pakistan clashes. The wicket of Sohail also swung the momentum of the 1996 World Cup quarter-final as Team India went on to win the contest with ease.

#4 VVS Laxman

VVS Laxman was angry at Ojha during a Test match against Australia [Right]

Perhaps the only instance of VVS Laxman getting really angry on the cricket field occurred during the Mohali Test against Australia in 2010. Team India were chasing 216 runs to win the tense clash. Pragyan Ojha walked in to bat as the last man with Team India still needing 11 runs to win.

With the target 6 runs away, a misunderstanding took place between Ojha and Suresh Raina - who was running for an injured Laxman. VVS drove the ball to mid-off and Raina charged down the track for a single. However, Ojha was ball-watching and refused the single. Luckily for Team India, a fumble allowed Raina to scamper home to safety.

Laxman did not like what he saw and lashed out at Ojha in stunning fashion, to the surprise of everyone. Not only did he scream at Ojha but even lifted him bat in a threatening gesture. The tailender at the other end was visibly scared.

Thankfully, things went in Team India’s favor in the end and they sneaked home to a one-wicket win. On expected lines, Laxman later apologized to Ojha for his uncharacteristic outburst.

#3 Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid and Shoaib Akhtar during their altercation in 2004

For most of his cricketing career, Rahul Dravid was the epitome of the nice guy in Team India. Hence, people were absolutely stunned with his ‘Indiranagar ka gunda’ avatar in a recent TV commercial.

There were rare instances on the cricket field when he did lose his cool though. One such incident took place when Team India were taking on Pakistan in the 2004 Champions Trophy encounter in Birmingham.

Team India were batting first in the game and were struggling to put up a decent score. During one of Shoaib Akhtar's overs, Dravid attempted a quick two only to find the Rawalpindi Express standing in his path.

Dravid was not happy with Akhtar's tactics and went up to the Pakistan bowler, asking him to stay out of the way. Akhtar, of course, did not back away from the fight, forcing Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq to intervene and separate the two angry men.

Chasing 201, Pakistan went on to win the match by three wickets.

#2 MS Dhoni

Team India left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was guided commendably by MS Dhoni from behind the stumps during the early years of his career. Yadav recently admitted that he misses the legendary Dhoni’s guidance.

However, during a T20I between Team India and Sri Lanka in Indore in 2017, Yadav got a firing from Dhoni for refusing to change the field.

During the game, Kusal Perera smashed the chinaman bowler for a boundary, after which Dhoni asked him to alter the field. Yadav, however, couldn’t hear what Dhoni was saying. Bowling with the same field, Yadav conceded another four off the next ball.

An agitated Dhoni then told Yadav:

“Me pagal hu? 300 one-day khela hu, aur samjha raha hu yahan pe. (Am I stupid? I have played 300 ODIs and you are not listening to me)."

Yadav later recalled in an interaction that he was scared after Dhoni’s reaction. After the match, the youngster asked MSD if he ever gets angry. To which Dhoni replied:

“20 saal se gussa nahi kiya hai (I have not got angry for the last 20 years).”

Coming back to the game, Yadav ended up claiming three wickets as India won the match by 88 runs on the back of Rohit Sharma’s blistering hundred.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar

If Laxman lost his cool at Ojha, the usually calm Sachin Tendulkar once gave his piece of mind to VVS. The rare incident occurred during Tendulkar’s legendary ‘desert storm’ innings against Australia in Sharjah in 1998.

Tendulkar and Laxman featured in a 104-run for the fifth wicket, with the former scoring a century. Team India had to chase 276 in 46 overs and, although they ended up losing the game, the Tendulkar-VVS partnership ensured India progressed to the final of the event.

Recalling the incident that took place during their stand, Tendulkar said on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected:

“I remember that a couple of times by emotions came out and I ended up shouting at Laxman ‘Run two, it’s my call why aren’t you running? I received a scolding from my brother as soon as I reached home. He told me ‘these sort of things shouldn’t happen in the ground. He’s your teammate, he’s also playing for the team. It’s not your match alone; he’s also playing with you. I got a bit of hiding at home.”