Five biggest rifts between India cricketers which became real

The sporting profession always looks like a joyride for the fans watching on television or from the stadiums. However, what goes between the players or inside the dressing rooms is not something that goes in the public domain. There are numerous instances of rumours of a rift between the players across the world. Some of them turned out to be true and these players don't see eye to eye.

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There can be many instances of this. Personal liking and disliking, captaincy, team combinations, and decisions are some of those reasons for rifts between them. Talking about Indian cricket, these stories go back to 1932 when the national team started playing Test cricket. Meanwhile, in this listicle, we will discuss five instances of player rifts.

Five times when player rifts turned out to be real

Lala Amarnath, Vizzy (Image Credit : Twitter)

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1. Lala Amarnath and Maharaja of Vizianagaram

This was probably the first scandal in the history of Indian cricket. During the 1936 tour of England, the Maharaja, also known as 'Vizzy' was the skipper of the team. Notably, he had no cricketing ability and had no respect from the senior players either.

In a game during the series, Amarnath was asked to get ready to bat even though he had an injury. However, he wasn't sent in to bat at the expected time. After the game, the former was expelled to India and both players never agreed with each other. 

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MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag (Image Credit : Twitter)

2. Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni

Both players celebrated together in various glories for India from 2007 to 2011. This includes two World Cups (ODI and T20) and the Test and ODI series win in New Zealand. However, after the 2012 tri-series against Australia and Sri Lanka, things turned sour between the two.

During the series, MS Dhoni started resting either of Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, and Sehwag. The keeper-batter cited the trio being slow fielders. After this, Sehwag replied saying that he didn't receive such feedback in the team meetings. The Delhi player is still a big critic of MS. 

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (Image Credit : Twitter)

3. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar

The altercation between the two players is still talked about. In a Test match against Pakistan in Multan, Dravid decided to declare the innings with Tendulkar stranded in the 190s. After the day's play, the Master Blaster expressed his disappointment over the decision.

Even though they say that there is no rift between them, the Mumbaikar's autobiography says a different story. Apparently, in the book, Sachin wrote that he wasn't convinced with the decision even though it was taken in the team's interests. 

Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev (Image Credit : Twitter)

4. Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev

The two great cricketers from the 70s and 80s started having rifts with each after the 1983 tour of Pakistan. Dev replaced Gavaskar as skipper and went on to lead the team in the World Cup victory a few months later.

Both players switched captain in the 80s and had disagreements. The Mumbaikar launched his autobiography in which a lot of players were present. However, Dev wasn't seen in the event. 

Mohammad Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar (Image Credit : Twitter)

5. Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin

Azhar debuted for India in 1985 while Sachin debuted four years later. They were one of the finest batters in their days and stitched various partnerships. However, in 1996, when the captaincy was snatched from the Hyderabad player and handed to Tendulkar, things started going south.

Both players had a rift when the 2011 World Cup winner was the captain. After a while, he left the job and the captaincy was handed back to Mohammad.