Top 5 cricket controversies of 2022

2022 has seen some amazing cricketing moments as well as some mediocre ones. England have dominated the headlines this year with their ‘Bazball’ approach in Test cricket under the new Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum regime. The fearless ploy also saw them overcome a shaky start to clinch the T20 World Cup in Australia.

At the same time, the year 2022 will be remembered as much for its on-field action as for its controversies. There was plenty of it in Indian cricket, with Virat Kohli being sacked as ODI captain and then making some explosive revelations in a press conference.

Towards the second half of the year, Sourav Ganguly was also removed as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief and replaced by Roger Binny. The Indian cricket board later sacked the entire selection committee after India’s T20 World Cup semi-final defeat.

India’s neighbors, Pakistan, are also going through a crisis, with Ramiz Raja being removed as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman.

Also, infrequent updates keep coming in from Australia over how former coach Justin Langer and the players did not share a great rapport.

Apart from the aforementioned ones, 2022 saw many other major cricket controversies both on and off the field. As the year draws to a close, here’s a recap.

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#1 Rishabh Pant fined for outburst during no-ball controversy in IPL

An agitated Rishabh Pant during the IPL 2022 match between DC and RR. Pic: BCCI

Team India’s keeper-batter Rishabh Pant is currently in the news for meeting with a horrific car accident on Friday, December 30. He has been involved in his fair share of controversies in 2022.

During the IPL match between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Pant got a lot of brickbats for his extreme reaction to a high full-toss not being declared a no-ball.

In the last over of the match, RR left-arm pacer Obed McCoy bowled a high full-toss to Rovman Powell. Most members of the DC dugout, including Pant, felt that the ball was too high and must be called a no-ball. However, the on-field umpires termed it a fair delivery.

A shocked Pant was seen gesturing to batters Powell and Kuldeep Yadav to come out. DC Assistant coach Pravin Amre even onto the field, but was ordered to leave by the umpires. In the end, sanity prevailed and the match was completed, with RR winning the contest by 15 runs.

Pant’s behavior cost him his entire match fee. Amre was fined 100 percent of his match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct, apart from being handed a one-match ban.

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#2 Deepti Sharma running out Charlie Dean for backing up too far

Deepti Sharma claiming the run out of Charlie Dean. Pic: Getty Images

The third ODI between India Women and England Women at Lord’s in September was fast bowling legend Jhulan Goswami’s last international match. However, the game will perhaps be more remembered for Deepti Sharma’s run-out of Charlie Dean at the non-striker’s end.

Chasing a target of 170 for a consolation win, having lost the first two ODIs, England Women recovered from 65/7 to 153/9. However, on what was supposed to be the fourth ball of the 44th over, the match ended in an abrupt fashion.

The bowler, Deepti, spotted non-striker Dean wandering out of the crease before she completed her delivery stride. The off-spinner stopped before delivering the ball and calmly knocked off the bails, with Dean (47) well out of her crease.

While the dismissal was very much within the laws of the game, the 'Spirit of Cricket' debate was reignited again, dividing the cricketing fraternity. India made it clear they had warned Dean a few times, a claim England rebutted.

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#3 Virat Kohli no-ball controversy

A no-ball call during the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup game led to a major controversy.

The cliffhanger between India and Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2022 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) had plenty of thrilling moments, and a couple of controversial ones as well. The game, one of the greatest T20 cricket matches ever, went into the last over, with India needing 16 runs.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam gave the decisive over to left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz. The fourth delivery of the over was a high full-toss. Kohli clobbered it for a six but then urged for a no-ball for height.

The square-leg umpire agreed with the Indian batter, which did not please Pakistan. The call was a controversial one since it was touch-and-go and the decision was made without the aid of the third umpire.

To make matters worse for Pakistan, Kohli was bowled off the free-hit delivery but managed to run three byes as the ball ricocheted off the stumps and away from the fielders.

India went on to win the match courtesy of Kohli’s (82* off 53) sensational knock. However, the general sentiment among Pakistan fans was that their team had been robbed of a victory.

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#4 Danushka Gunathilaka arrested over sexual assault charges

Sri Lankan batter Danushka Gunathilaka. Pic: Getty Images

Another major controversy erupted during the T20 World Cup 2022 when Sri Lanka batter Danushka Gunathilaka was arrested from the team hotel in Sydney on rape charges.

Gunathilaka was ruled out of the ICC event after sustaining a hamstring injury. He was part of the playing XI that was stunned by Namibia in the tournament opener.

Despite being ruled out, Gunathilaka stayed with the Sri Lankan team during their World Cup campaign. He was brought into custody by New South Wales (NSW) police after a 29-year-old woman alleged the Lankan cricketer had sexually assaulted her at a residence in Rose Bay.

The two met after communicating via an online dating application. The victim claimed that she did not consent to sex without a condom or any of the other sexual acts performed. She alleged that, apart from refusing to wear a condom, Gunathilaka also choked her three times.

The cricketer was subsequently granted bail but has been suspended from all forms of cricket by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

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#5 David Warner withdraws appeal against captaincy ban with a scathing post

Veteran Australian opener David Warner. Pic: Getty Images

Earlier this month, Australian opener David Warner lashed out at the independent panel set up to hear his appeal to have his lifetime captaincy ban overturned. While criticizing the panel, he alleged that they appeared determined to expose him and his family to "further humiliation and harm by conducting a media circus".

Warner and then-Australian captain Steve Smith were suspended for 12 months for their role in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. After a number of Australian cricketers spoke out in support of Warner, Cricket Australia (CA) allowed the batter to appeal against his life ban in front of an independent panel.

While withdrawing his application, Warner shared a post on social media explaining the reasons for his decision. Launching an attack on the review panel, he wrote:

"Counsel assisting the review panel appeared to be determined to revisit the events of March 2018 and the review panel appears determined to expose me and my family to further humiliation and harm by conducting a media circus. In effect, counsel assisting, and, it appears, to some extent the Review Panel, want to conduct a public trial of me and what occurred during the Third Test at Newlands.

"They want to conduct a public spectacle to, in the panel's words, have a "cleansing". I am not prepared for my family to be the washing machine for cricket's dirty laundry. Regrettably, I have no practical alternative at this point in time but to withdraw my application."

The 36-year-old was recently in the news when he became only the second batter in history to slam a double hundred in his 100th Test after England's Joe Root. He retired hurt exactly on 200 in Australia’s first innings of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa at the MCG.

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