India vs Pakistan, ICC World Cup 2019: Top sledging moments from both the sides

Sledging and a little banter on the field are sometimes considered healthy as far as it is restricted to just the cricket field. However, in the midst of some innocence sledging, things do tend to tend to get ugly at times. Let’s have a look at few of the instances.

1. Harbhajan Singh and Shoaib Akhtar, 2010

It was back in 2010 when the Indian team was still struggling with the bat and their key bowler, Harbhajan Singh tried to win the game in a pressure situation. India needed 7 runs of 7 balls and ended the second last over with a dot ball, creating pressure on the Men in Blue. However, in this high intense situation, this off-spinner received a mouthful from Shoaib Akhtar after the 2 dot deliveries which led to an ugly banter on the field. When Mohammad Amir went in to bowl the last over, Bhajji smashed a solid six and roared towards his bat to show Shoaib who the real boss is.

2. Gautam Gambhir and Shahid Afridi, 2007

 Probably one of the ugliest fight in an India-Pakistan match, which was only resolved after the intervention of umpire, Ian Gould. After a great start from the Indian openers, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir came to the crease to provide the team stability in the middle order. It was after the four that Gambhir hit to Shahid Afridi that led to a verbal spat between these two players. In the next ball, as Gambhir went on to take a single, things got worse as he ran into Afridi and eventually it was the umpire that had to separate these two. Both the players were fined heavily after this incident.

3. Virendra Sehwag and Shoaib Akhtar, 2003

After receiving the constant bouncers, the Indian opener, Virendra Sehwag asked the Pakistani bowler to bowl the same way to Sachin Tendulkar. However, when Shoaib bowled a bouncer to Sachin, the legendary Indian batsman hit him for a six. Sehwag went up straight to Shoaib Akhtar and said, “baap baap hota hai.”