Cricket is the sport of gentlemen, and cricketers are the most humble gentlemen. They are known for their soft attitude towards their teammates, as well as their opponents.
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However, that is not always the case. In fact, some cricketers are so conniving that they share a rivalry even with their national teammates for various reasons.
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Be it for a domestic rivalry or competitiveness and team captaincy; many cricketers have been vocal about their differences with their colleagues. In the same light, we take a look at five cricketing pairs, who are friends as well as enemies, commonly referred to as 'frenemies'.
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Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid: The two reportedly share a rivalry since Ganguly had a fallout with national coach Greg Chappell. He was dropped as the captain, as well as from the squad in 2006. While Dravid was handed over the leadership duties, Ganguly had purportedly said that the former was selfish for the captaincy role and did not have the guts to stand up against Chappell.
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Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist: The two Australian legends won the ICC World Cup together. Nonetheless, they did not seem to gel along, and it was due to a rivalry they shared in the domestic circuit. "It was along the lines of Gilly being a goody-two-shoes, but it was much more severe than that. Warnie really got into Gilly that day, and he was seriously offended by it. You could tell by the way he batted and the way he left the ground and his general demeanour throughout the game. I don't think he ever forgot it," an unknown cricketer had once quoted to Herald Sun in 2007.
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Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar: Although both these legends played a subtle role in helping India win the 1983 World Cup, they did share a battle against each other. Once, after India had lost a Test to England, Gavaskar lashed out at Dev, for getting out early, following a rash shot. Although Gavaskar later clarified that he did so to bring the best out in Dev, the latter was dropped from the next Test. Thereon, they never got on the same page, as Gavaskar denied opening during the 1985 Sri Lanka tour, despite Dev wishing for so.
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Don Bradman and Bill O'Reilly: The greatest Test batsman ever, too, had a fallout. Both had tremendous respect for each other in terms of their abilities. However, it was after the arrival of Bradman, O'Reilly was overlooked, as they could not stand each other since then. Consequently, when Bradman was dismissed for a duck in his final Test, O'Reilly reputedly collapsed to the floor in hysterical laughter.
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MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag: Dhoni might be the most fantastic captain India has ever produced, but his success might have come at the cost of a few careers. When India were whitewashed 0-4 during the 2011-12 Test tour Down Under, Dhoni had reportedly said that Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir could not be played together, since they were poor fielders. Sehwag, who was the stand-in captain in the next game against Lanka, clarified the same by saying, "What he told us was to give chance to youngsters and come here, and play the next World Cup. That was what he told us. Did you see my catch?"
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