Cricket is not unknown to controversies but while some of them can be seen as part of the process, others warrant closer investigation. Here are some disclosures by cricketers that shook the entire sporting world and showed that there is much to be desired when it comes to discipline, empathy, and clarity.
1. Possibly the most disturbing revelation of all was made by Yuzvendra Chahal recently when he said that he was once dangled from the 15th floor of a building by a drunk player in 2013. In a Rajasthan Royals video, the team he plays for now, Chahal said:
My story, some people know about. I have never spoken about this, I never shared this. In 2013, I was with the Mumbai Indians. We had a match in Bengaluru. There was a get-together after that. There was a player who was very drunk, I will not take his name. He was very drunk; he was looking at me and he just called me. He took me outside and he dangled me from the balcony
2. Unfortunately, this is not the first time Chahal has spoken of such life-threatening bullying. Chahal says that in 2011, he was tied up completely and his mouth was taped by Andrew Symonds and James Franklin who went about their night and forgot that they had left him in that state.
It was in 2011 after winning Champions League in a Chennai hotel. He [Andrew Symonds] had drunk a lot of “fruit juice” (laughs). I was with him, only. James Franklin and he tied my hands and legs, and said ‘now you have to open’. They were in so much masti they have taped my mouth and forgot all about me. Party got over and in the morning, when a cleaner came, he saw me and freed me. They asked from when have I been here like this and I told them, ‘from the night itself’.
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3. On the condition of keeping the person’s identity anonymous, Robin Uthappa recently revealed that he was made to sign papers forcefully to leave Mumbai Indians after the inaugural season of the IPL. He says he was threatened to do the same.
So, I was along with Zaheer Khan and Manish Pandey. I was one of the first people to be transferred in the IPL. For me, it became extremely difficult because my loyalties were completely laid out with MI at that point. It happened a month before the IPL and I refused to sign the transfer papers. Someone from MI, I won’t name him, had told me that if I didn’t sign the transfer papers, I’d not get to play in the XI for MI.
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4. When Pakistani cricket Danish Kaneria said that his teammates won’t eat at his place because of his religion. Though he added that Shoaib Akhtar, among some other senior players, did treat him like everyone else and for that he was thankful.
The players who didn’t like to talk to me just because I was a Hindu. Soon I will reveal their names. I did not have the courage to speak in this regard, but now I got the courage to speak on this issue when I heard Shoaib’s statement.
This isn’t to single out Pakistan. Religious discrimination runs deep in society and its implications have been seen all around the world – including our country.
5. When Wriddhiman Saha posted a screenshot of texts from a journalist, who threatened him by saying “this wasn’t something you should have done”.
After this, a probe was initiated by the BCCI into the matter. Later, Boria Majumdar admitted that it was he who had sent those texts to Saha.
6. In 2019, Harbhajan Singh said that many senior players, including VVS Laxman left cricket on an unpleasant note, despite some of them being World Cup winners, because the management wanted to build a new team. He said that in doing so, it completely forgot about the experienced, old players.
Many players from the 2011 World Cup could have played the next World Cup. Like Me and Yuvi, Gambhir, certainly we could have played the next world cup but we were dropped. I don’t know what was the agenda of leaving us all aside. It was like your work is done now you can leave. We have to make a new team. Why do you need a new team? You need it when the team has not won. We won the World Cup and you should take the team forward.
7. In a disgusting case of racism, an Australian player called English cricketer Moeen Ali “Osama” during Ashes 2015. Moeen refrained from taking his name.
It was a great first Ashes Test in terms of my personal performance. However there was one incident which had distracted me. An Australian player had turned to me on the field and said, ‘Take that, Osama.’ I could not believe what I had heard. I remember going really red. I have never been so angry on a cricket field.
8. Meanwhile, a similar unfortunate incident happened closer home when Darren Sammy was called “ka*lu” by players in the IPL.
In hindsight, asking for apology I shouldn’t have even done that. If me and my team-mates have done something not intentionally, but now I realise that could be deemed or termed as something that could be hurtful to a team-mate of mine. So whether I get an apology or not, it doesn’t change the mentality of how proud I am to be a black person, to be a black man. It doesn’t change.
9. When Virat Kohli revealed that there was no talk of ODI captaincy when he told the BCCI that he wanted to step down from the position of the skipper in the T20s.
This was in sharp contrast to Sourav Ganguly’s comments, who had said that because Kohli was insistent on quitting as T20 captain, ODI leadership was also taken away from him for the sake of consistency across limited-over formats.
10. And days later, it was reported that Ganguly wanted to send a show-cause notice to Virat Kohli but that the board turned it down because the team was going to South Africa for a tour.
Ganguly categorically denied this claim.
Some of these are truly unbelievable.