10 most controversial statements made by cricketers

A few of these players were bashed for their controversial comments.

In the 21st century, print and digital media have greatly influenced the game of Cricket. Now the cricketers can share their opinions on any platform and the audience can also support their heroes. It has definitely brought the fans closer to the game. Also in the coming years, it is going to play a key role in the growth of the sport.

Nowadays not only the admirers follow the players but also the media who want to analyze them to create fresh content. They even go through cricketer’s biographies to churn out stories. In such cases, many players have found themselves in trouble due to their statements. Most of the times such remarks are perceived in a wrong notion but it has never failed to catch the attention of cricketing fraternity.

Here is the list of 10 controversial statements made by the cricketers :

1. Shoaib Akhtar – ” Tendulkar and Dravid are not match winners”

Shoaib Akhtar. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The Rawalpindi Express has always found himself in the soup as he never shies away from making bold statements. Shoaib Akhtar has a habit of taking potshots at his fellow cricketers. Throughout his career, his controversial rate and bowling speed never dipped.

Even after his international journey, Akhtar is still continuing his long run-up in the wrong lane and it was clear from his correctly named Autobiography “Controversially Yours”. In his book, the speedster has clearly mentioned his hard times and glory days coupled with his thoughts on arch-rivals, Indian cricketers.

According to Akhtar the legends of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid lacked particular skills. In his report, these two players were not the exact match-winners of their side. He also went on to add that they usually struggled to cope up with his pace which caused a storm in the cricketing circle.

2. Virender Sehwag – “Dhoni’s captaincy alone didn’t win World Cup for India”

Virender Sehwag. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Unlike his colleagues, Virender Sehwag is a cricketer whose interviews are full of catchphrases. There is never a dull moment whether he is sending the bowlers on a leather hunt or giving his opinions on teammates. Nowadays he is playing his second innings behind the scenes in the commentary box.

After his retirement, the dashing opener has been vocal and entertaining on all social platforms. The audience loves him because of his witty replies and quirky one-liners which sometimes gets him into trouble. One such instance was his comment on the World Cup-winning captain, MS Dhoni

.

In the latter half of Sehwag’s career, there were reports regarding the animosity between him and Dhoni. He constantly tried to downplay Dhoni’s success as an Indian skipper. He went a step further when he stated that the Men in Blue was a strong team and MSD was not the reason behind India’s World Cup triumph. Still, Sehwag doesn’t miss an opportunity to crucify Dhoni’s actions on the field which gives an idea of his relationship with the former Indian captain.

3. Greg Chappell – “You scratch my back, I scratch yours”

Greg Chappell. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

The Australian cricketers are known for making reckless comments and the Chappell brothers are in front of the row. In 2005 after John Wright left the Indian soil the then captain, Sourav Ganguly backed Greg Chappell to take over the coaching role. Chappell got the job ahead of experienced campaigners like Dav Whatmore and Graham Ford.

Slowly problems started brewing in the Indian dressing room which was clearly affecting the team’s performances on the field. All hell broke loose when Ganguly was ousted from the team. Soon the Indian players were vocal about Chappell’s negative attitude and it all ended on a sour note when the team was eliminated in the group stages of 2007 World Cup.

Immediately the Australian resigned from the role and later he would reveal his part of the story in his autobiography “Fierce Focus”. According to him Ganguly was expecting favours from his side and wanted to keep his captaincy title even after going through a rough patch. He has also described how senior cricketers controlled the Indian side during his tenure. Till now all the Indian players have denied the allegations and added that it was him who took the country’s cricket backwards.

4. Chris Gayle – “Don’t blush, baby”

Chris Gayle. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Chris Gayle

is one of the easy-going personalities in world cricket. Though he has scored a truckload of runs for the Caribbean team he is mostly remembered for his franchise cricket exploits around the globe. The left-hander entertains his audience with six-hitting skills that come along with his bubbly personality.

During his career, Chris Gayle has been part of many controversies knowingly and unknowingly. The latter happened when he was giving an interview after a BBL tie to Mel Mclaughlin, Network Ten commentator. The explosive batsman cheekily praised the presenter’s beauty and invited her for drinks which didn’t go down well.

Within hours Gayle’s comments were the headlines of various news channels and some people remarked him as a misogynist. The Universe Boss was fined $10000 for his misconduct and several other women came up with their bad experiences. After that Gayle has not participated in BBL and in his book “Six Machine” he has expressed how his comments were blown out of proportion.

5. Shahid Afridi – “Indians not as large-hearted as Pakistanis”

Shahid Afridi Gautam Gambhir. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The all-rounder from Pakistan is one of the most loved cricketers around the world including India. Shahid Afridi is known for his warmth towards his counterparts but sometimes he has intentionally stirred uproar by being politically incorrect. Of late he is also receiving a lot of flak for his revelations in his biography.

Afridi is one of the players who has always rooted for India-Pakistan ties irrespective of the administrative relations between the two countries. He was the captain when the team played the semi-final against India in the 2011 World Cup. It was supposed to be a new beginning but what followed after that was a cheap publicity stunt by the Pakistan skipper.

Back home after the team’s loss, Afridi was invited as a special guest in the Samaa News channel. There he discussed various details regarding their match against arch-rivals but the talk show ended on a controversial note. Afridi slammed the Indian media for their negative approach and also termed Pakistanis as better human beings than Indians. It was a needless statement that became a heated debate in media.

6. Vinod Kambli – “Sachin has forgotten me”

Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Twenty-six years ago Harris Shield tournament presented the Indian team with two cricketing gems. One being the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and the other one was the lost gem of Indian cricket, Vinod Kambli

. Considered as a genius Kambli instantly gained popularity in the international circuit with his attractive stroke-making.

In his early days, the left-hander outshined Sachin Tendulkar and nobody can forget his three consecutive centuries in test cricket at the age of 21. Kambli was making headlines with his talent but as fate would have it he got involved in various off-field antics and disciplinary issues. Since then his career derailed quickly and he never regained his touch.

Due to his frustrations, Kambli took the help of alcohol and drugs which made matters even worse for him. He started blaming his former best friend, Tendulkar for not helping him in his tough times. In a reality television show, ‘Sacch Ka Saamna‘ Kambli even admitted that he was shocked when Sachin didn’t mention his name in his retirement speech. For a couple of weeks, the broken friendship between two players became a national debate.

7. Hardik Pandya – “Sexist comments”

Hardik Pandya. (Photo Source: Twitter)

With his talent and potent Hardik Pandya

 is surely going to be a big name in the upcoming years of world cricket. Since making his debut in 2016 he has come a long way and now he is an integral part of the Indian unit. According to his teammates, Pandya is an Indian boy with a Caribbean flavour.

His power-hitting game and relaxed character completely match the traits of a West Indian cricketer. Due to his flamboyance, Hardik was on the guest list of Koffee with Karan hosted by the Bollywood mogul, Karan Johar. It is a candid chat show where the India all-rounder was accompanied by his colleague KL Rahul.

Everything was going smooth until the host slipped some of the ticklish questions. In a light-hearted manner, Pandya replied to all the questions with indecency. When the interview was posted online his sexist comments were not welcomed and he was mercilessly roasted on social platforms. Legal action was taken against both cricketers and BCCI also suspended them for their behaviour.

8. Kevin Pietersen – “Matt Prior was the Big Cheese”

Kevin Pietersen Test. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

In the last decade, some of the best innings of English cricket was played by the stylish right-hander, Kevin Pietersen

. He was one of the pioneers who changed the outlook of Brits in white-ball cricket. Be it the famous 2005 Ashes series or the 2010 T20 World Cup triumph Pietersen was the central figure when England won major championships.

Pietersen was an individual who was always in the limelight for both right and wrong reasons. The year 2012 turned out to be a nightmare for him as he was dropped for disciplinary and dressing room issues. Though he was called back in the 2013 Ashes series the problems never got resolved. A mediocre performance led to a complete fallout with the ECB which brought his glittering career to a disruptive end.

Exactly after one year, KP released his biography where he claimed that Andy Flower was one of the reasons why his cricketing expedition ended on a sorry note. He also criticized Matt Prior for his bossy attitude when the wicket-keeper was the vice-captain of the team. According to Pietersen, Prior was the main reason why everybody fell out with him in the dressing room. Some of the England players came out in his support and it took some time to get the dust settle.

9. Kagiso Rabada – “Virat Kohli is immature, can’t take abuse”

Kagiso Rabada. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

In the modern-day cricket, the two names which reverberate in the entire cricketing spectrum are Kagiso Rabada and Virat Kohli. The former being the spearhead of the South African bowling unit was supposed to be a star performer in the 2019 World Cup. Due to an indifferent form, the speedster hasn’t been able to execute his skills in this tournament.

Rabada’s bad patch definitely dashed the Proteas World Cup dreams. They lost their initial fixtures against England and Bangladesh. Rose Bowl was their third pit stop where they were going to take on tournament favourites, India. Before the game, Rabada used the classic fast-bowler technique of sledging the best batsman of opposition in the pre-match conference which in this case was Virat Kohli.

The pacer termed the Indian skipper as immature who cannot take sporting banter in his stride. He also added that Kohli is a difficult character to understand. In reply, Virat downplayed the comment and suggested a man-to-man discussion with Rabada. Though the Indian skipper didn’t take the comment seriously his fans really got annoyed and it became a piece of front-page news.

10. Arjuna Ranatunga – “2011 World Cup final was fixed”

Arjuna Ranatunga. (Photo by Pradeep Gaur/Mint via Getty Images)

The Sri Lankan cricket is going through a dark phase with many match-fixing allegations raised in the last couple of years. Even the cricketing system has taken a hit as many of the former players are questioning the current scenario of the sport in the country. One of them is their World Cup-winning captain, Arjuna Ranatunga.

Nowadays though the Sri Lankan legend is busy with his political affairs he has always shown his interest in the country’s cricket. In 2015 Ranatunga even contested for the vice-president role of Sri Lanka Cricket but he suffered a humiliating defeat from the hands of Sumathipala. In 2017 when the island nation lost an ODI series against Zimbabwe, Ranatunga made a shocking revelation on his Facebook page.

In that post, the former Sri Lankan skipper explained how he was shocked by his countrymen’s loss in the 2011 World Cup. He demanded an immediate probe and added that he has doubts on a couple of individuals of that team. Ranatunga was adamant that something hideous happened on that night in Wankhede. It became trending news in the cricketing circle and many Indian players rubbished the criticism.

In this age where every action of a cricketer is closely watched, they need to make their statements wisely otherwise it can hamper their personal and professional lives in a bad manner.