5 Controversies of the 1900s which Changed Cricket Forever
Often called the Gentlemen's Game, Cricket has seen enough controversies for one to question the validity of the expression.
Within the first week of IPL, the media went buzzing with Ashwin-Buttler mankading. The incident had marginally faded and the Malinga No ball incident happened. And very recently, captain cool MS Dhoni, uncharacteristically, stormed down the pitch from the dugout, to argue with the on-field umpires.
While each controversy has its own implications for the individuals involved and sometimes the entire team, the game has witnessed a few controversies which impacted the game itself. Let's take a look at the controversies of the past century which changed cricket forever!
#5 The Underarm 'Cry for help'
The Incident
It was February 1, 1981, the third of the five finals of the 1980-81 Benson & Hedges World Series Cup was being played in the MCG between the trans-tasman rivals, Australia and New Zealand. Both teams were tied after winning a final each of the previous two finals.
New Zealand required 15 off the final 6 deliveries. Greg Chappell who was captaining the Australian side gave the final over to his brother, Trevor Chappell.
6 runs were required off the final delivery if New Zealand were to tie the match. To prevent this, Greg instructed his brother to bowl a rolling underarm delivery, to which Trevor obliged.
Nothing was scored on the ball. The New Zealand batsman on-strike, Brian Mckenhie, threw his bat on the ground in anger and disgust. Australia won the match by 6 runs.
The Impact
The incident immediately led to the ban of underarm bowling in limited-overs cricket as "not within the spirit of the game". Now, law 21.1.2 considers an underarm delivery a no ball and states:
Underarm bowling shall not be permitted except by special agreement before the match.
Years later in a documentary, Greg Chappell called it a "cry for help" to the Australian Cricket Board to take notice of the amount of cricket the team was playing and the toll it's taking on the players physically, and more importantly, mentally.