The Indian Premier league, in its eight years of existence, has been embroiled in several controversies. There are certain players who simply love to heat up the game further with their sledges and banters and on the field.
They have represented their countries together. A few have even lifted World Cups together. But, with the competitiveness and the prizes at stake, such tilts never cease to exist. Today, we have a look at the top five controversial on-field jibes in the history of IPL.
5. Virat Kohli fights with the umpires
Virat Kohli is known for his explosive behaviour even when he is not holding the bat. The furious Royal Challengers Bangalore captain once got into an argument with umpire Kumar Dharmasena, along with his teammate Dinesh Karthik.
The argument sparked during an RCB vs SRH match in the eighth edition of the tournament in 2015 when the officials decided to continue the latter's innings despite a drizzle. Kohli, in a desperate bid to make the umpires understand the situation of the downpour, walked up to Dharmasena asking him why the match has not been stopped.
When the other umpire, Anil Chaudary tried to calm the situation, Karthik picked up the argument, which upset the umpires.
4. Kieron Pollard gets on Shane Watson's nerves
The two all-rounders got involved in a heated argument during a match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals in 2013. Keiron Pollard was seen constantly mocking the Aussie when he was on strike, which left the latter furious.
Though Pollard sported a wide grin on his face, Watson seemed annoyed, which eventually led to him getting dismissed in the same over, caught by Pollard at mid-wicket. He also approached umpire Asad Rauf and complained about Pollard's behaviour, who in turn called on MI's skipper Rohit Sharma to calm his teammate down.
Rahul Dravid, the then captain of RR did not seem to take the issue lightly, and also went on to call it "an act of cowardice" by Pollard.
3. Kohli and Gambhir’s verbal exchange
This ugly spat happened during the sixth edition of the tournament in 2013. Kohli, after getting caught out in the tenth over, walked towards the Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir and passed a comment instead of walking back to the pavilion.
Gambhir, in turn, walked towards Kohli angrily, who was then stopped by his teammate Rajat Bhatia. However, both the Indian batsmen underplayed the incident and called it "heat of the moment". They were warned and reprimanded for breaching the IPL code of conduct.
The two Indian stars have not only represented the country but have also played for Delhi, North Zone and ONGC together. This spat surely did stun all the fans, who did not expect the two to clash over a petty matter.
2. Pollard throws his bat at Mitchell Starc
Pollard is known for his controversial activities on-field. In the seventh edition of the IPL in 2014, an ugly incident took place during the match between RCB and Mumbai Indians, when Starc had a few words to say after Pollard tried to hook his bouncer.
In the next ball, Pollard pulled out, and Starc went on to bowl his delivery, which almost hit Pollard's legs. Pollard swung the bat in anger and threatened to throw it at Starc while it slipped out of his hands, and continued the hassle further.
The two of them were heavily penalised for their actions by the match referee Andy Pycroft, with Pollard being fined 75% of his match fee and Starc, 50%. MI skipper Rohit Sharma defended his teammate, saying that the Caribbean had done that unintentionally and that it happened in the heat of the game.
1. The famous slap gate
This incident took the 'controversial' tag of the IPL to the next level. After a match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians in 2008, the short-tempered Harbhajan Singh allegedly slapped pacer Sreesanth because of an offensive comment made by the latter.
Sreesanth was captured on the cameras, crying after the match and was seen being consoled by his teammate VRV Singh and owner Preity Zinta. Sreesanth later tweeted saying that the incident was "planned by a few" and also called Harbhajan a "backstabber". The off-spinner was expelled for the rest of the tournament while Sreesanth was excused with a warning.
However, Sreesanth became the butt of jokes on social media and the internet trolls have still not let the eight- year old incident die down.
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