5 most bizarre acts committed by all-time greats 

Often, being out of the ordinary is met with a lot of furrowed eyebrows, it is also not welcomed, primarily due to the fact that it does not fit in with the required norms.

Cricket has always been a game governed by stringent rules, it is a game which has seldom veered off the tried and tested paths. But such is the game that there have been instances when players and officials have gone off-field to venture on to unknown territory, and such is the rarity of such occurrences that they spring to mind with ridiculous ease.

Now, let us take a look at five such instances when bizarre occurrences garnered headlines.

#5 Dennis Lillee walking out with an aluminium bat

He was mercurial, he was flamboyant, he was controversial, he was a match-winner, but he was no batsman.

However, that did not stop him from walking out against England with an aluminium bat in Perth back in 1979.

Lillee had previously used it against the West Indies, and particular equipment was aptly named ComBat.

The English captain Mike Brearley protested as the bat was damaging the new ball forcing the umpires to step in.

After all the drama, Lillee was forced to replace it with a normal wooden willow.

Captain Greg Chappell walked out to get the bat replaced even as an infuriated Lillee threw away his aluminium bat in disgust.

#4 Underarm bowling

It was Australia once again, it was Greg Chappell all over again, it was bizarre, it was controversial, it was enough to change the rules.

Back in 1981, Australia took on New Zealand in the finals of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

New Zealand needed six runs to win the match and the Australian captain Chappell instructed his younger brother and bowler Trevor Chappell to run up and bowl an underarm delivery.

While it was not against the rules, this particular act invoked a lot of criticism and the cricketing world rallied around to lambast the hosts.

The International Cricket Council shunted this mode of delivery out of the game as it was "not within the spirit of the game."

#3 Steve Smith’s ‘brainfade’ DRS

The series between Australia and India in 2016-17 had all the elements of an epic drama. After Australia pulled off a heist on a raging turner in Pune, the hosts were on the backfoot in Bengaluru for the second Test.

India were bundled out for 189 in the first innings, Australia piled up 276 in reply, and once again Virat Kohli’s men had their task cut out.

The Indian batting stood up but a lower-order collapse saw the target for Australia set at 188.

Ishant Sharma got the first breakthrough and then Steve Smith walked in. He was trapped in front by the Indian pacer, but in a moment of madness, he looked towards the dressing room in order to seek help for a DRS review, which was strongly objected by Virat Kohli.

The umpires stepped in and asked the Australian captain to leave.

“It was a bit of a brain fade on my behalf and I shouldn’t have done that,” Smith added after the match.

#2 Angry Sunil Gavaskar walking off

The Indian captain was not having a very fruitful series personally with the bat back in 1981.

However, he hit form in the Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when he was on 70 and was trapped in front of the stumps by a low-shooting fast off-cutter from Dennis Lillee.

Umpire Rex Whitehead was prompt with his decision and this agitated Sunil Gavaskar, who signalled that the ball had hit his bat en route the pads.

A visibly irritated Gavaskar pulled off his opening partner Chetan Chauhan and walked off the field in an attempt to forfeit the match.

Indian team manager, Shahid Durrani met the duo on the boundary ropes and knocked some sense into Gavaskar, who disappeared into the dressing room and Chauhan returned to the crease to resume his innings.

#1 Sandpaper scrubbing and ball tampering

Call it nature or call it fate, Australian cricket found itself once again on the wrong side of the law when Cameron Bancroft used a sandpaper to scuff up the ball in order to extract reverse swing.

It was captured by the cameras and shown on the television screen forcing the 12th man to rush on to the field to inform the opening batsman of the developments.

After the day’s play, Australian captain Steve Smith admitted that this plan was hatched in the dressing room and that the ‘leadership group’ was aware of it all the while.

This started a massive outcry in cricketing parleys and the Australian public demanded accountability and sanctions.

ICC subsequently banned Smith for one match and fined 100% of his match fees.

However, Cricket Australia sent David Warner, Steve Smith, and Cameron Bancroft back home.

A day after, Smith and Warner were handed one-year bans and Bancroft was slapped a nine-month-long ban.

Both Warner and Smith were also ruled out of the upcoming edition of Indian Premier League.