5 cricketers who showed effects of drunkenness on the cricket field
Many Cricketers around the world are seen getting addicted to alcohol, and several off-the-field incidents from the past and present have left scars in the career of great players. It was back in 1999, when all the fingers were pointed at Ricky Ponting, who got involved in a bar brawl at a bar in Sydney which left him unconscious.
Following India’s exit from the 2012 ICC World T20, players like Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma and Ashish Nehra were involved in a heated exchange of words at a bar in St.Lucia.
Left-handed batsman from New Zealand Jesse Ryder was hospitalised after being beaten up by few men after a fight broke out at Aikman’s Bar in Christchurch. Apart from these cases, there have been a few instances where cricketers have taken the field while drunk which affected them in different ways.
Let us have a look at 5 Cricketers who showed effects of drunkenness on the cricket field:
1) Gary Sobers (West Indies)
Gary Sobers is a legend in its true sense and is widely regarded as the “Greatest all-rounder” ever to play the game. Recently turned 80, he displayed some phenomenal performances during his playing days with equal dominance in both batting and bowing.
He played 93 Test matches for West Indies, scoring a massive 8032 runs at a healthy average of 57.78 along 26 centuries. The left-armer was highly impressive with his bowling, picking up 235 wickets throughout his career.
The shocking incident which was very unlike him was revealed by the great man during an interview at Lord’s where it was learnt there was a match in which Sobers was not “sober”. He admitted that he was intoxicated during his last Test at Lord’s but still managed to score an unbeaten 150-run innings.