The 10 most epic cricket fights of all time

When two teams take the field and engage in a competitive sport, circumstances and testosterone together cause tempers to fray. Why should cricket, despite carrying the tag of being the gentleman’s game, be any different? Though cricket in the good old days rarely saw an angry skirmish, the modern day game has had its fair share of ill-tempered fights. While there have surely been many more confrontations on the cricket field than those mentioned here, these fights deserve to make the list due to the sheer amount of anger involved.

#10. Steve Waugh gets saved from a sure beating

When a fast bowler with a height of 6’7 is bowling a good spell and giving you lethal stares, the best thing to do is to just look away. The usually stoic Steve Waugh forgot this thumb rule for a moment and swore at the huge Curtly Ambrose. What followed was an entertaining sight as Ambrose charged towards Waugh and was restrained only due to a mighty effort from his teammate.

#9. Balaji Rao unleashes his repertoire of invectives

I personally feel that it is quite uncool for a top international side to heckle the minnows. The Pakistani team though, thought differently during the WC 2011 and started to annoy the hell out of Canada’s Balaji Rao, renowned for his beer belly. They had not accounted for a fierce counter-attack from Rao, who started abusing as if he were a professional in the art of swearing.

#8. Kemar Roach loses his cool for no apparent reason

If your team is losing for sure and you can bowl 150 kmph missiles, what do you do as a bowler? According to Kemar Roach, just unleash a barrage of bouncers at the opposition’s premier batsman and exhibit a variety of angry poses. For the record, West Indies still lost pretty badly despite Roach’s shenanigans.

#7. Mahanama falls into Healy’s trap

Shane Warne was bowling to Roshan Mahanama and strongly appealed for a caught behind. The appeal was turned down and Ian Healy slipped in some disparaging remarks from behind the wicket. Mahanama was not impressed and launched a tirade at a calm-looking Healy. The incident was enough to disrupt his concentration. He was out next ball.

#6. Harbhajan derails the Rawalpindi Express

Shoaib Akhtar was not particularly renowned for a calm demeanour and when Bhajji hit him for a six in a tense run chase during the Asia Cup, Akhtar gave him a piece of his mind, using rather unparliamentary language. Harbhajan got motivated enough to drag his team to victory and angry enough to let out yells directed at Akhtar in a manner that would put Tarzan to shame.

#5. What's on in McGrath’s mind

The Windies were closing in on a record 4th innings chase and Ramnaresh Sarwan was the prime enforcer. Glenn McGrath resorted to using the classic Aussie weapon, sledging. Stump microphones caught McGrath asking Sarwan about the latter’s familiarity with Brian Lara’s anatomy. Sarwan retorted that McGrath’s wife knew it better. A livid McGrath threatened to rip Sarwan’s throat out and from the video, it seems like he could have totally carried out the threat.

#4. A case of sweet Indo-Pak love

There is not much to be said about this famous video of Afridi and Gambhir. If you are decent at lip reading and are familiar with Hindi and Urdu cuss-words, then you can easily infer that there was no love lost between these two.

#3. The Dennis Lillee school of Karate

In a scene reminiscent of kindergarten, Lillee barged into Javed Miandad while the latter was completing a run, got into a verbal fight, and then just for fun, kicked Miandad. Not to be left behind, Miandad lifted his bat to give it back and umpire intervention prevented a skull fracture.

#2. A sleeping giant is awakened

A man notorious for taking naps while fielding at slips, Inzamam-ul-Haq is the last person you’d expect to lose his cool on a cricket field. However, when a spectator picked up a megaphone and started targeting Inzy with taunts of ‘’Alu, Alu (potato)”, Inzamam grabbed a bat, hunted down the offender and gave him a thwack. At this point, he probably returned to his nap on the field, disgruntled at being woken up.

#1. Venkatesh Prasad’s moment of glory

Millions of Indians recall this incident with relish. Venkatesh Prasad, who bowled with friendly medium pace, was being taken apart by Amir Sohail in the India-Pakistan quarterfinal of WC 1996. After hitting a boundary over cover, Sohail called out to Prasad and gestured towards the direction in which the next ball would disappear.

He tried the same shot for the next delivery and his off stump was uprooted. Prasad then injected as many foul words as he could in one breath and gesticulated wildly to Sohail to get back to the pavilion. The person who first labelled cricket as the gentleman’s game must be surely turning and swearing in his grave.

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