5 on-field spats of the hot-headed Gautam Gambhir

It has been quite evident over the years in Indian Cricket that Delhi boys get charged up easily and involve themselves in some heated moments.

On-field spat, sledding, and aggression have always added flavor to the game. They are enjoyable from the viewer”s point of view but the ‘gentleman’s game’ did turn out to be offensive when they became ugly.

Aggression becomes necessary at times in sport to justify your commitment and make sure you give your 100% out there in the field.

The Indian player who has involved himself in on-field spats the most in cricket history has to be Gautam Gambhir. The southpaw from Delhi got into altercations with players from almost every nation, Pakistan being the most and did not even spare his teammates.

Let’s have a look at some of the ugly ones.

1. Gautam Gambhir – Kamran Akmal (Asia Cup, 2010)

An India-Pakistan encounter is always intensified at its peak and the kind of pressure and hype that surrounds the battle has led to quite a few blow-ups in the past. It was all about the episode of ‘How I insulted your mother’ after Gambhir missed a delivery by a mile but the Pakistan keeper Kamran Akmal appealed with full enthusiasm for a catch behind.

Akmal infuriated Gautam Gambhir so much that after the over had finished, Gambhir walked straight up to Akmal menacingly and confronted him about the appeal. Then the two clash in a forehead to forehead, eyeball to eyeball confrontation. Umpires and MS Dhoni intervened to handle the situation.

2. Gautam Gambhir – Virat Kohli (IPL 2013)

This was one of the ugliest incidents in IPL history – the altercation between two nations as well as Ranji teammates. The Strong verbal duel between skippers of KKR and RCB, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli during an IPL clash at the Chinnaswamy.

The incident happened after Kohli went for a wild slash but was caught in the sweeper cover region. Kohli was on his way towards pavilion but he stopped in his tracks and was visibly angry as it looked like something was being said by the opposition. Suddenly, Gambhir was seen walking angrily towards his junior India teammate and quite a few words were exchanged between them. Another Delhi boy, Rajat Bhatia came in between and separated them.

3. Gautam Gambhir – Shahid Afridi (2007)

This incident took place in the bilateral series held in India (2007), months after the two teams had met in the final of the inaugural World T20 in Johannesburg. Gambhir was under the notion that Afridi was trying deliberately to block his way while taking a run and hence the former barged into Afridi while taking the run. A verbal spat followed thereafter with all sorts of slang and abusing in Hindi. Umpire Ian Gould had to come in and separated the duo.

4. Gautam Gambhir – Shane Watson (2008)

Initially, Gautam Gambhir was at the receiving end when the visiting Aussies were after him verbally and Shane Watson had sledded him all morning in a Test match at Delhi. Then Gambhir decided to take matters into his own hands and so while running between wickets he stuck out his left elbow to hit Watson in his midriff. Match Referee Chris Broad charged Gambhir with Level 2 offense and Watson with Level 1.

After tea, the local boy also argued with part-time spinner Simon Katich – the bowler appeared to have halted Gambhir from taking a run – and the pair was separated by umpire Billy Bowden.

5. Gautam Gambhir – Manoj Tiwary (Ranji, 2015-16)

The latest incident happened during a Ranji Trophy game at the Feroz Shah Kotla when Delhi was up against Bengal, where skipper Gambhir had reportedly threatened Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary to beat him up.

The incident happened in the 8^th over when Partha Sarathi Bhattacharjee got out of Manan Sharma”s bowling and skipper Manoj Tiwary came in to bat at No. 4 wearing a cap. Tiwary first took guard and was about to take strike to Manan. But he stopped the bowler and signaled at the dressing room to bring his helmet as a pacer was operating from the other end.

Manan ticked off Manoj and he told him to lay off. All of a sudden, Gambhir, at first slip, got into the action and started abusing the Bengal skipper, who then struck back.

Manoj was then seen shouting at Gambhir, saying: “Did I tell you anything? Why did you have to come in between.”

“Shaam ko mil tujhe maroonga (Meet me in the evening, I will hit you),” Gambhir was quoted as saying.