Great personal rivalries behind the scenes – India

In the first part of this series, Australia was talked about. But when it comes to India, ‘team spirit’ is something which is scoffed at.

Maybe it’s got to do with population dynamics, which teaches us Indians that we cannot succeed in life unless we trample over another person. Let it be getting into a crowded train or a bus or carelessly breaking signals on the road.

Competitiveness within a team is good, but only to a slight extent. Here are 5 famous infightings amongst many, of Indian cricketers –

1) Sidhu vs. Azharuddin – On the tour of England in 1996, Sidhu was surprisingly dropped from the 3rd ODI on the eleventh hour when he was all padded up and ready to play. This humiliated him so much that he blamed Azharuddin, the then captain to have made such a decision out of arrogance. Azhar’s language throughout the tour, did not go well with Sidhu.

Eventually, Sidhu walked out of the tour vowing never to play with or under Azhar again.

2) Sehwag vs. Dhoni – This is perhaps the mother of all Indian rivalries. After the 2011 World Cup, all hell broke loose when India lost 8 Test matches in a row away from home and Dhoni announced a rotation policy of senior players on the tour of Australia with fielding cited as a major aspect for India to focus on.

This angered Sehwag, who was straight forward in countering Dhoni’s diplomacy by stating the seniors’ abilities and importance. However, Sehwag’s poor form gave Dhoni a valid reason to drop him from the team recently.

3) Harbhajan vs. Sreesanth – In the IPL 2008, Mumbai Indians was led by Harbhajan when they lost to Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, a team which the now disgraced Sreesanth was a part of. Sreesanth’s immaturity made the temperamental Bhajji slap him after the match. Consequently, both of them were fined but Bhajji was banned from the tournament.

Even after 5 years, their equation has barely changed.

4) Gambhir vs. Kohli – Both hail from the same city, having played together for so many years. However in a shocking incident in the IPL 2013, Bangalore’s captain Kohli lost his wicket in a match against Gambhir’s Kolkata. Gambhir was delighted but celebrated with a bit of aggression, which Kohli found offending and what followed was an ugly war of words on the field.

Since then, both have preferred not to talk about each other or to each other as well. Both of them were in contention at one point for leading India, but Gambhir’s recent sacking may have got on to him and made him jealous of Kohli’s rise.