Indian cricket has come a long way ever since it gained its Test status back in 1932. Over the years, the cricket-tragic nation has had a plethora of memorable moments in its storied history. From winning the Test series in the West Indies and England in 1971 to Sunil Gavaskar establishing himself as the best Test opener in the world.

From Kapil’s Devils doing the unthinkable in the summer of 1983 by beating world champions West Indies in the World Cup final to the emergence of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, who would go on to scale many a height both on an individual basis and also as a team, it is fair to say that India is the current superpower- both on and off the field.

But, that is not to say that it has been smooth sailing. Over the years, there have been a plethora of controversies that have threatened to derail Indian cricket. With COVID-19 causing a temporary break to the proceedings, we at CricTracker thought that why not delve into the pages of history, and once again re-live the most tumultuous moments that Indian cricket has faced over the years?

Here’s a look at five controversies that rocked Indian cricket

5. Greg Chappell vs Sourav Ganguly [2005-2007]

Before delving into the details of what happened, let us rewind the clock back to 2003. India was slated to tour Down Under for a four-match Test series, followed by a tri-nation tournament. And, in a bid to shrug off his past horrors against the Aussies, captain Sourav Ganguly decided to spend some time with Greg Chappell ahead of the tour. Chappell’s advice proved to be a boon for the then Indian captain as he shellacked the Aussies to the tune of 144 at the Gabba.

Two years later, with John Wright’s tenure nearing its end, the Indian team was on a lookout for a new coach. There were several options in the form of Dave Whatmore, Tom Moody, Mohinder Amarnath. But, out of the blue, came a suggestion of Greg Chappell, from none other than Sourav Ganguly. Ganguly was even cautioned by former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar and Greg’s own brother Ian Chappell about the former’s lack of man-management skills.

But, such was the influence of the Australian on Ganguly that the Indian captain did not pay heed to any of those suggestions. As a result, Chappell was appointed India’s head coach and his first assignment was a tri-nation series in Sri Lanka. Ganguly wasn’t a part of that tour as he was still serving his six-match ban for slow overrate, and he only joined the team on the following tour of Zimbabwe.

At the same time, Ganguly’s form in Test cricket was a matter of concern. He hadn’t scored a Test hundred for over two years. And this prompted Chappell to ask the Indian captain to drop himself from the first Test, after the latter had consulted him on whether to play Yuvraj Singh or Mohammad Kaif in the playing XI. Chappell replied: ‘Play them both’.

A befuddled Ganguly proceeded to threaten to withdraw from the tour but was ultimately coaxed by Dravid and Chappell to stay on. Ganguly scored a hundred in the first Test, following which he revealed in the media that Chappell had suggested him to step-down. It all came to a head when Chappell’s e-mail to the BCCI was leaked in the media where the Australian had referred to Ganguly as ‘physically and mentally’ unfit to lead the team, accusing him of faking injuries.

He further stated that Ganguly had lost the confidence of his team-mates and his presence would have an adverse effect on India’s chances in the 2007 World Cup. Following the leaking of Chappell’s email and Ganguly’s subsequent snub- both as captain as well as a player- a huge furor ensued with fans all over the country taking to streets to protest against the Australian.

“Chappell destroyed Indian cricket to such an extent that it required at least 3 years to again get back on track. The worst part was that some, players in that team, who sucked up to the coach would supply selective misinformation creating bigger rift,” Harbhajan Singh was quoted as saying by Cricket Next then.

Matters escalated when Chappell flipped a bird to the Kolkata fans during an Indo-South Africa ODI in late 2005. Ganguly would continue to get sidelined for almost a year before he finally earned his way back into the set-up courtesy consistent scores in domestic cricket.

He was eventually picked for the South African tour in the winter of 2006 where he emerged as the leading run-scorer in the three-match rubber. He subsequently regained his place in the ODI side in 2007 and was picked for the World Cup in the Caribbean where the Men in Blue crashed out in first round, to bring down curtains on Chappell’s contrversial stint as India’s head coach.

4. IPL 2013 spot-fixing scandal

Thirteen years after the infamous match-fixing scandal rocked Indian cricket (and world cricket) to its core, the ugly fixing saga reared its head once again, and this time it was the IPL, whose reputation was at stake. It all started in 2012 when an Indian news channel aired a sting operation, accusing five players of demanding a bribe in exchange for spot-fixing. The BCCI reacted swiftly and banned all the five players, with a life-ban on TP Sudhindra and a five-year ban on Shalabh Shrivastava.

But, little did anyone realize that it was just an initial layer of a rot that would take down a lot of high-profile names in the coming days. And it all came to a head during the 2013 edition when Delhi police arrested S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan, and Ajit Chandila. Matters escalated to the hilt when CSK team principal Gurunath Meiyappan- son-in-law of N Srinivasan- and Raj Kundra, Rajasthan Royals co-owner were arrested for illegal betting.

Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings were accused of a serious conflict of interests, forcing Rajiv Shukla and N. Srinivasan to step down from their posts. The Supreme Court proceeded to appoint the Lodha Committee, which passed a landmark judgment of suspending both CSK and RR for a period of two years.

3. Mike Denness vs India

The fifth and final day of the second Test between hosts South Africa and India in November of 2001 was expected to be a rather uneventful affair. The Test was meandering towards a draw after the Proteas had reduced India to 1-28 in their pursuit of an improbable target of 395. But, as they say, it was just a calm before the storm- a full-blooded storm- and a series of events that followed threatened to rip cricket apart on racial lines.

At the heart of the matter was match referee Mike Denness. Two incidents caught Denness’ eyes. The first one was regarding the excessive appealing by the Indians- orchestrated by Harbhajan Singh and accentuated to the hilt by close-in fielders like Virender Sehwag, Shiv Sundar Das, Deep Das Gupta- and not checked by Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. The second incident revolved around Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar- a cricketer with an unblemished reputation- and the claims of him tampering with the ball.

On the third day, Sachin had bowled four overs of medium pace before he started to swing the ball more than any other bowler. Denness asked for the footage from the host broadcasters, and after looking at the video, he was convinced that something unruly had happened. But, in the maelstrom, was forgotten the fact Tendulkar was guilty of not informing the umpires of cleaning the ball under Law 42.3 (b), rather than tampering with it.

Denness informed Team India on the fourth day that he will be banning Sachin Tendulkar [for ball tampering] and Sourav Ganguly for failing to control his team, for one match, suspended for a year. The likes of Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Deep Das Gupta, and Shiv Sundar Das were also handed a one-match ban and a further 75% reduction of match fee.

What happened next?

With six players from one team handed suspensions, all hell broke loose as Indian media accused Mike Denness of racial discrimination. Fans took to the streets to burn the effigies of Denness while the Indian parliament described the English match-referee as ‘racist’.

Battle lines were drawn in world cricket. While Australia, New Zealand, and England subsided with the ICC, BCCI-led by Jagmohan Dalmiya and South African cricket board- fearing that India would back out of the final Test-  were united in their demands of ICC removing Denness from the match-referee post in the following Test.

Frenetic discussions took place in the days leading up to the third Test. But, with ICC adamant on not removing Denness, both BCCI and South African board sacked the Englishman from officiating in the final Test. And, with ICC not acceding to the demands, the final Test was awarded an ‘unofficial’ status, which the home side won by an innings and 73 runs.

2. Monkey gate, Sydney 2008

“Losing 2005 (Ashes series) was a tough one to handle but I was in full control of that. But I wasn’t in full control of what happened at the end of the whole Monkeygate thing and Andrew Symonds wasn’t in control of what the result of that was either,” Ricky Ponting recently said according to Fox Sports.

Twelve years after that infamous scandal in Sydney, Ricky Ponting was asked about the lowest point of his career and the former World Cup-winning captain had no hesitation in pointing out the ‘Monkeygate’ saga as the nadir of his storied career.

From the very outset, the New Year Test at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground was marred with controversies. Frequent howlers from Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor had enraged the Indians, and it all came to a head on the final day when the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly once again found themselves on the wrong side of the decisions.

After Michael Clarke controversially caught Ganguly at slips, Benson resorted to asking Ponting, who raised his finger to signal out. As many as nine decisions went against the Indians and Infuriated India captain Anil Kumble went on to say in the press conference that “only one team had played in the spirit of the game.”

Infuriated Indians demanded the removal of Bucknor from the rest of the series but apart from the controversy surrounding the umpiring howlers, an Armageddon ensued when Andrew Symonds accused Harbhajan Singh of hurling a racial slur at him. The turbinator was handed a three-Test ban, which further infuriated the visitors.

However, the ban was suspended as India appealed the original verdict after threatening to call-off the tour entirely. The ICC formed a disciplinary committee which eventually exonerated Harbhajan from the racial charges. As far as the series is concerned, a determined Indian side pulled off a major heist by defeating the Aussies in Perth to shellack the defending champions’ sixteen-match winning streak.

1. 2000 match-fixing

The 2000 match-fixing scandal not only shocked Indian cricket but it also rocked the world of cricket to its core. It all started during the 2000 South African tour of India when Delhi police- while tapping the calls of the underworld- came across a conversation between a bookie and Proteas captain Hansie Cronje.

The conversation was regarding match-fixing and on further investigation, it was apparent that it was indeed Cronje. Delhi Police filed its report against Cronje, much to the bewilderment of the cricketing community. Cronje initially denied the claims but the South African cricket board formed the King’s Commission in order to come to the root of the matter.

Cronje, finally admitted to the offense where he also named a plethora of cricketers including Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Manoj Prabhakar, and star all-rounder Ajay Jadeja. The Indian government immediately ordered a CBI probe in the matter. The Crime Investigation Bureau submitted its report, where the most ruinous statement was of Mohammad Azharuddin, who admitted to introducing bookies to Cronje and fixing games with the aid of Ajay Jadeja.

On November 27, 2000, Mohammad Azharuddin was found guilty of match-fixing while the likes of Jadeja, Prabhakar and Ajay Sharma were found guilty of having a connection with bookies. The bans on Azhar (life ban) and Jadeja (five years) were lifted soon due to the lack of evidence, but the damage to the credibility of Indian cricket had already been done.