Gautam Gambhir And His History of On-Field Poor Behaviour

Gautam Gambhir may not be firing with the bat, but he is certainly making up for it with a series of on-field incidents, which is ensuring that he stays among the top headline makers in Indian cricket. (Ranji Trophy: Gautam Gambhir Abuses Manoj Tiwary, Threatens to Beat Him Up)

Although the on-field altercations are nothing new in cricket, but there seems to be a certain love affair between Gambhir and a verbal slug-fest.

The latest incident happened during Delhi's Ranji Trophy game at the Feroz Shah Kotla against Bengal, where Gambhir had reportedly threatened Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary to beat him up. (Gautam Gambhir Crossed The Limit, I Did Not Start The Fight: Manoj Tiwary)

However, later in the day, Gambhir in a statement said the new reports were factually incorrect. "I was most surprised that certain sections of the media have reported that I pushed an on-field umpire during third day's play of Delhi-Bengal Ranji trophy game. It's factually incorrect," Gambhir said in his statement. 

"At no point did I threaten or pushed any on-field umpires. Nor did I threaten to beat Manoj up. In fact, I attended match referee's hearing post the day's play where he accepted that he doesn't have any video evidence of me pushing the umpire. On the contrary the match referee conceded he had video evidence where Manoj is seen pushing Pradeep Sangwan. I am not complaining here but stating what the honourable match referee told me .

The reported incident happened in 7.1 over when Tiwary, who came to bat stopped the bowler and signaled at the dressing room to bring his helmet. (Gautam Gambhir Rubbishes Reports of On-Altercation With Manoj Tiwary)

Delhi players felt that it was a deliberate time wasting tactic. All of a sudden, Gambhir, at first slip, got into the action and started abusing the Bengal skipper, who then retaliated.

"Shaam ko mil tujhe maroonga (Meet me in the evening, I will hit you)," Gambhir was quoted as saying. When on-field umpire K Srinath intervened to cool down the issue Gambhir even shoved the umpire.

Gambhir and his aggressiveness has often led to ugly scenes on the cricket field. Here is a list of poor on-field poor behavior incidents from the former India opener.

Gautam Gambhir vs Shahid Afridi, Kanpur 2007

India versus Pakistan matches are always a tense affair. One such incident occurred in 2007, during the third ODI at Green Park in Kanpur, when Gambhir, who was struggling at the crease, looked to take a quick single off Shahid Afridi.

India were at 95-2, when Gambhir dabbed one towards short third man and ran for a single. In the process he collided with Afridi, who was clearly upset by it. Gambhir was under the impression that the Pakistan all-rounder was trying to deliberately block his way when he was trying to take a run.

A heated altercation followed between the two cricketers, forcing umpire Ian Gould to play the peacemaker role. Gambhir was fined 50 per cent of his match fee for being found guilty of the offence of inappropriate and deliberate physical contact and 15 per cent of his fee for the disrepute charge, while Afridi was fined 75 per cent of his match fee for the offence of inappropriate and deliberate physical contact and 20 per cent of his fee for the disrepute charge.

Gautam Gambhir vs Virat Kohli, Bengaluru, IPL 2013

Gautam Gambhir was in thick of things during the Indian Premier League game against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The Delhi lads were involved in an on-field altercation following Kohli's dismissal in the 10th over. Kohli, who was upset by something, made a remark, which the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper didn't like.

Gambhir stormed towards Kohli and words were exchanged, only for Rajat Bhatia to intervene and calm things down.

Gautam Gambhir vs Shane Watson, 2008, Delhi Test

Opener Gautam Gambhir was at the receiving end of verbal assault from the visiting Australians during the Delhi Test.

After Shane Watson went overboard with his sledging, Gambhir decided to take matters into his own hands and so while completing a second run he stuck out his left elbow to hit Watson in his midriff.

Match Referee Chris Broad charged Gambhir with Level 2 offence for not conducting play "within the spirit of the game as well as within the laws of cricket". Watson will answer a Level 1 charge under the same section.

Gautam Gambhir vs Kamran Akmal, 2010 Asia Cup, Dambulla International Stadium, Sri Lanka

This incident happened during the fourth game of the Asia Cup between India and Pakistan. India were sailing in their 268-run chase.

Gambhir, in one of those rare occasions, missed a delivery from Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal by a mile. Wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal went up immediately claiming a caught behind only for the umpire to turn it down.

Gambhir who was clearly not amused, walked straight up to Akmal during the drinks break and confronted him about the appeal. An ugly spat followed, and it could have turned uglier had M S Dhoni not intervened.