Greatest sporting fights in Indian sports

“Your biggest opponent is not the other guy, it’s human nature” said Bobby Knight. Sports all around the world has seen some of the greatest victories, deafening loses and scintillating performances. On the flip side, it has also witnessed some of the most irrational fights, craziest dramas and break ups. Sports is said to be like a coin. It has two sides, the good and the bad and is a complete package.

It is one thing to see the rivalry in a match, but it is totally different for internal fights and bad vibes to be seen between players or within the team. While the former helps the team to give its best, the latter results in the players losing concentration, ultimately leading to fall in performance of the players or the team in total.

The Paes-Bhupathi saga:

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi

Sports feuds are both interesting and disturbing in their own way. One of the most scandalous sporting fights that saw the split of one of world’s best tennis pairs is the one between Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. This decision which came in 2001 sent shock waves across the country. Dominance in doubles tennis was a given had they continued to play as a team for the nation. They topped the ATP doubles ranking in 1999 and made both players and fans jealous by showing true friendship and camaraderie both on and off field before the unfortunate break in their relationship. The same pair which won two grand slams in 1999 (French Open and Wimbledon) placed a fight over the game that they love. Their performance, though was reasonable with other partners like Radek Stephanek and Lucas Dlouhy, their dominance in world tennis which lasted for 6 years came to an end.

The 1980s Indian cricket diary:

While tennis saw some major controversy and split up in the late 1990s, the Gavaskar- Kapil Dev- Bedi difference of opinion dominated Indian cricket in the 1980s. Though nothing was out in the open, there was a clear divide and friction between the three aforementioned players in the Indian team. While a few Mumbai players treated Sunil Gavaskar with great reverence, the other players from the Indian team were unable to understand and appreciate his techniques used though he was a genius at it. This was the reason he was never able to attain that amount of love and devotion from both the players in the team and the general public as that of Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev. “I always thought there were a lot of issues within the team. But in the end they were able to put it all behind them and work it our,” said Bhuvana Kumar, a devoted cricket fan of the 1980s.

The Chappell-Ganguly controversy:

Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappell

Another huge drama which stunned India was the controversy after the appointment of Greg Chappell as the coach of the Indian Team in the year 2005. Starting with dropping the captain Ganguly from the squad to causing colossal damage to the morale of the team, the controversy was spoken about long after Chappell’s tenure as the coach ended.

The “senior players” comment which turned ugly:

During the 2012 series to Australia there was yet another difference of opinion, this time with the current Indian captain M.S. Dhoni and senior Indian opener Virender Sehwag. In response to Dhoni’s the comment about the senior players slowing down fielding, thereby adding 20 extra runs on the opponents score board, Sehwag, in a press conference cleared the air and confirmed that the team had had a meeting and everything was sorted out. But the split between the team was evident by the statements made by the two players.

The cherry on the icing:

To top it all up, in the last year’s Indian Premier League, Indian team members Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir who played as opponents (Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively) had an ugly verbal attack which left most of the IPL fans speechless. This also raised a lot of questions with regard to unity among Team India.

One noticeable aspect of all these in-fights is the magnanimity of the players who have, after the much spoken about differences, spoken up and placated the ardent fans of the game and have placed the game ahead of everything else. They have continued to perform and give their best despite all these dissimilarities. Kohli and Gambhir for example came out in the open after the on-field spat and announced that they have sorted things out and have moved past the dispute.