The spat between Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli has been the talk of the town. Despite India winning the game against Pakistan convincingly, there are still doubts about whether there is bitterness in the Indian dressing room. Does Kumble want to overrule the decisions made by Kohli? Does Kohli think he is beyond making mistakes? We will find these things out only in time. For now, let’s take a look at some other feuds between cricketers and their coaches.
Sourav Ganguly – Greg Chappell
Indian fans still feel sour about this chapter in their cricketing history. Greg Chappell was appointed as India coach, and soon after, his disagreements with Ganguly were made public. Chappell made sure that Ganguly was dropped from the team, and it robbed one of India’s best captains his ODI and Test spot.
There was no happy ending or resolution to this story, and Ganguly said, “He (Chappell) can call up Tendulkar or Dravid. But he dare not dial my number. If he is hearing this on TV, he dare not call Sourav Ganguly.”
Kevin Pietersen – Andy Flower
Another feud that really blew up the cricketing world was the one between Kevin Pietersen and Andy Flower. Pietersen didn’t hold anything back and had some unsavoury words (“contagiously sour, infectiously dour”) for Flower in his autobiography.
“He built a regime, he didn’t build a team. I’ve told him this before. I told him during his coaching reign. I told him on numerous occasions: ‘You’re playing by fear here, you want guys to be scared of you. And Andy I’m not scared of you.’ And he hated it,” KP wrote.
Mickey Arthur – Australian Team
During Australia’s tour of India in 2013, Mickey Arthur assigned all the players to enlist three points that could help the team improve. This task came as a result of Australia’s mammoth defeat (they lost by an innings and 135 runs) in the Hyderabad Test.
Four players including Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson did not submit this ‘homework’ and were dropped for the next Test. “It’s extremely tough to sit here and make that decision. I wish it wasn’t the vice-captain, I wish it wasn’t Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson, they are leaders within the team and are very professional with the way they go about their business. But this was a moment where we had to make a statement irrespective of who the players were,” Arthur was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo.
Gautam Gambhir-KP Bhaskar
Player-coach feuds happen in domestic cricket too, and the one between Gautam Gambhir and KP Bhaskar was probably the ugliest.
“If protecting a youngster is a crime, I am guilty. If making 20-22-year-olds feel secure in an insecure environment is a crime, then I am guilty. But I could not have let this man (Bhaskar) play with careers of young players like Unmukt Chand and Nitish Rana,” Gambhir revealed in an interview with PTI.
