9 Indian cricket dressing room gossip stories or controversies which most people don't know

1. After The Toss Fiasco In The World Cup Final, Sachin’s Wise Words Came To The Rescue

Source: Groundviews

In the world cup final in 2011 the coin (toss) was flipped twice because the match referee couldn’t hear Sangakkara’s call. It was seen by the Indian fans as cheating because, allegedly, Sangakkara made the wrong call and didn’t confirm the same when asked by the match referee.

The players in the Indian dressing room got furious over Sangakkara’s tactics which took the focus away from the biggest game of their lives, momentarily.

Sachin being the senior-most player in the squad asked the players to remain focused on the task at hand and not let the negativity ruin the biggest occasion of their lives. Had Sachin not intervened at the right time, the Indian team might have self-destructed at that crucial moment to give Sri Lanka an edge even before the game began.

2. When Sachin And Ganguly Ensured That The Match Couldn’t Be Fixed

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During the 90s there was a lot of talk of match-fixing and Sachin was afraid that one of their games had been fixed. He passed on the information to Ganguly, and both of them decided to try their level best and steer the game themselves to avoid any outside influence. The following day in the match, both of them scored a century and India won comprehensively without any worries.

3. When The Team Got Emotional After Learning Of MS Dhoni’s Retirement

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Everyone in the dressing room became emotional when MS Dhoni announced his retirement after the third test against Australia at the MCG in 2014. He said that he could no longer play all the three formats and it was time for him to retire. Hearing the news most of his teammates got teary-eyed.

4. Kohli And Dhawan Had A Go At Each Other During The Brisbane Test

Source: Hindustan Times

The spat between Kohli and Dhawan during the Brisbane test made news all over the world. It was reported that Kohli was upset because he had to come ahead of Dhawan who sustained an injury in the nets before the day’s play. Kohli was dismissed cheaply and lashed out onto Dhawan for faking an injury. Later on, Dhoni cleared up the issue in the press, saying that it was not a big issue as reported by the media.

5. When Sachin’s Speech Inspired The Team In The 2003 World Cup

Source: Indiatimes.com

India lost the second match in 2003 World Cup, and the team looked in disarray as to how they were going to perform against stronger oppositions. Sachin realized that it would be a downward spiral in case they started questioning their form. He asked all the players to huddle up and gave a ‘Chak De-esque’ speech which inspired the Indian team to the finals of the World Cup.

6. When Yuvraj Trolled Dhoni As A Newbie

Source: CricTracker.com

When Dhoni joined the Indian cricket team, Yuvraj would often tease him by calling him a ‘Bihari’. Yuvraj would also tell him that hitting big sixes was not a big deal, winning matches for India is what makes a player great. Guess Dhoni took Yuvraj’s advice seriously going by the number of matches Dhoni won for team India single-handedly.

7. When The Whole Team Pranked Dada And He Offered To Resign

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Sourav Ganguly was a bold captain, and he was quite thick with his players, always motivating them to play fearlessly. So, when Yuvraj and Ashish Nehra told him that they would not play under his captaincy as they were hurt by some of the statements that he made against them in the press, Ganguly offered to quit – teary-eyed.

Dravid realized that the prank had crossed the boundaries when Ganguly got emotional and told him that it was all rehearsed. Dada picked up a bat and chased all of those involved out of the dressing room.

8. Virat Kohli’s First Day In The Dressing Room

Source: theSportsRush

It is widely known that Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were two of the most notorious pranksters in the Indian dressing room. So, when Virat Kohli was getting ready for his debut, trying to control his nerves but failing miserably, Yuvraj and Harbhajan told him to touch Sachin’s feet stressing that earning his blessings before the debut was a norm for all the newbies in the team. Funnily enough, Virat Kohli went ahead, and Sachin later informed him than the prank-masters of the team had struck him.

9. John Wright Grabbed the collar of Sehwag

This incident happened during the 2002 Natwest Trophy. Sehwag was at his peak during that time. But at the same time, he was getting out playing extremely silly shots. Indian coach, John Wright was not really happy with this. He also told Rahul Dravid, “If that guy gets out to one more bad shot I’m going to really have a go at him.”

In the next match, Sehwag got out while playing one of his trademark shots and John Wright true to his word, grabbed Sehwag’s collar and blasted at him. Being the true sportsman that Sehwag is, he did not make a big deal out of it. Rahul Dravid appreciated Wright’s behaviour stating that he wanted them to win.