Cricket is known for its extreme competition, and what makes it intense is the players. Sledging is part and parcel of this sport. Sledging can be ludicrous, friendly, or aggressive. The first word that comes to my mind while talking about sledging is Australia. It’s no secret that Australian players and their crowd is known for their dynamic behaviour.
1. Shane Warne
Legendary leg spinner from Australia, Shane Warne, was known for his highly volatile nature on the field. He believed in verbally agitating the player and making him lose his concentration. He was involved in numerous sledging instances. This one time, he taunted Paulby, saying “You got an MBE? For scoring 7 at the Oval. Well, that’s embarrassing.” Another incident was recorded when Daryl Cullinan came to bat and Warne said, “I’ve been waiting for two years for this opportunity to squash you in front of your crowd”. Well, the count doesn’t stop here, Warnie even sledged the master blaster, but then Tendulkar gave him a befitting reply with his bat.
2. Glenn Mcgrath
McGrath had gotten involved in various verbal incidents that even took ugly turns. The legendary Australian Speedster once got under the skin of Sachin Tendulkar, who was said to be one of the decent lads of the Indian Cricket Team. McGrath exchanged a few words with him during a knockout game, but little did he know that Sachin would resort to him in such a way that his bowling figures would dwindle. The other incident rewinds to 2003 when McGrath tried to pester Ramnaresh Sarwan, West Indies batsman, by saying, “what does Lara’s c*CK taste like?” to which Sarwan replied, “I don’t know, ask your wife” and this made Glenn's blood boil, and he exploded.
3. Ricky Pointing
Pointing never shied away from sledging or verbally abusing the opposition. Once, he dared to sledge Brian Lara during the Adelaide Test, 2000, by saying, “You’re putting everyone to sleep” though Lara backfired with his bat, scoring 182. In the following incident, he got in a heated verbal fight with Gautam Gambhir. Ponting loved to pass an air of persiflage.
4. Steve Waugh
Who doesn’t remember Herschelle Gibbs ‘catch drop in the 1999 world cup? That knocked South Africa out of the World Cup. Waugh was on 56 and was looking formidable when he hit the ball up in the air and gave Gibbs a simple catch; he was in an instant to celebrate that made him drop the ball; Waugh remarked by saying, ” You just dropped the World Cup”.
5. Mark Waugh
Mark Waugh had mastered the art of sledging. Once he got in a filthy fight with Adam Pierre. After Pierre missed the first ball, Waugh said, “Oh, I remember you from a couple of years ago in Australia. You were shit then, you’re useless now”. He also ridiculed Ormond by saying that he’s not good enough to play for England.
6. Michael Clarke
Clarke always raised his sledging standards by being verbally ruthless to the opposition. During an Ashes match, he told Anderson to be ready for a “broken arm” that made Anderson lose his cool. In 2005, during Australia tour of India, he made a gibe about Tendulkar’s age, to which Sehwag replied,” He(Sachin) has more hundreds in Tests and ODIs.”
7. Tim Paine
Tim Paine and Rishab Pant’s infamous babysitting war was quite entertaining and fans went a bundle on for seeing it more. While Paine asked Pant to babysit his kids, Pant returned his favor by calling him a temporary captain. In the next episode of sledging, he exchanged a few words with Ashwin and taunted him regarding his IPL contract, “Even your teammates think you're a goose. How many IPL teams wanted you when you asked them to have you?”
8. Mitchell Johnson
Hot-headed Mitch Johnson made Dravid go disgruntled after throwing some words at him during an IPL match; Johnson also sparked a controversy after he hit the ball back to Kohli during a test match. He even went on sledging Ben Stoke and Stuart Broad during the Ashes.
9. David Warner
Ashes, a tournament that provides a perfect platform for Australia, and England to unleash their rivalry. During one of the matches of the 2015 Ashes series, Warner taunted Buttler on dropping catches while wicket keeping. During 2018’s Australia tour of South Africa, Warner clashed with De Kock, a South African cricketer, after he got personal towards Warner and made some confidential remarks. Well, thanks to IPL that now Australian Players share a good bond with the Indian players; otherwise Players like Smith and Warner will never shy away from having a verbal exchange.
10. James Faulkner
Faulkner and Kohli’s heated face-off during matches caught everyone’s attention. During the 2016 ODI series between Ind and Aus, Faulkner bowled four consecutive dot balls to Kohli to deviate him while batting, Faulkner greeted him with derision by saying, “you tried to smash me there, but you failed” although he failed, to shift Kohli’s focus.
