2013 Year in Review: The biggest cricket controversies of the year

The Troubled Times of the South African Safari:

Haroon Lorgat

The much-talked about India’s tour to South Africa almost came undone thanks to CSA’s appointment of Haroon Lorgat as its CEO. Lorgat’s contentious past with BCCI prompted the latter to come up with a home series against West Indies that went on to be Sachin Tendulkar‘s last test series. The BCCI’s high-handed attitude didn’t win it any applause from the world’s cricketing eyes especially in the wake of South Africa’s meek acceptance of the heavily truncated tour.

Uneasy Social Networking:

Graeme Swann

Roger Federer‘s Twitter Q&A sessions got him more fans than ever before. But there were some Twitter users from the cricketing world who found themselves courting controversies. Graeme Swann became the social media website’s latest victim with his crass tweet likening England’s loss to rape following England’s to Australia at Perth. Before Swann, there was Cricket Australia with their tweet with a picture of turbaned Teletubbies that was removed by the offending party.

Bouncers’ Misunderstanding:

Monty Panesar

English cricketer Monty Panesar’s troubles in his personal life seemed to spill onto his professional life when the spinner ended up ‘taking a leak’ on bouncers at a pub in Brighton. Panesar’s actions saw him not only get removed from the English squad in the (then) ongoing Ashes series, but also ended up in Sussex suspending him from their squad. Thankfully, for Monty though, his slump didn’t linger on for long and he finds himself once again as the go-to guy for spinning options for the depleted English team.