Cricket, frequently known as "the gentleman's game," evokes ideas of a friendly sporting competition on the village green. But those days are long gone, and there are still times when the game is not precisely gentlemanly. Players can be kind, unfriendly, aggressive, or fair. While others, including Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli, Harbhajan Singh, and Michael Slater turned to sled and other inappropriate behavior, players like M.S. Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar and Colin Cowdrey always played the game in the proper spirit. They frequently clashed with the umpires. Let us look at cricketers who fought with the umpires.
1. Michael Slater
Australian Opener Michael Slater claimed to have caught Rahul Dravid's errant pull shot during the first match of the Border Gavaskar Series in Mumbai in 2001. However, Dravid did not believe, and he did not leave. S. Venkatraghavan, the on-field umpire, gave the batter the benefit of the doubt and declared Dravid not out. Slater took offense to this and verbally insulted the umpire and the batsman. Later, he got fined for his behavior.
2. Michael Clark
Michael Clark stopped playing in the 2013 Ashes because he felt the light was too dim. But the referees carried on with the game. He approached umpire Aleem Dar because he disagreed with this choice. Aleem touched the Australian captain to calm him down. Because of this behavior, Clark urged the umpire to refrain from touching him. Later, he received a warning for his actions. With four overs remaining, England needed 21 runs to clinch the Ashes 4-0. At that point, the umpires called off the game.
3. Josh Hazlewood
In a 2016 Australia-New Zealand match at Christchurch, Kane Williamson was the target of a Josh Hazelwood lbw appeal. Ranmore Martinez, the umpire, declared him not out. He was also ruled not out by the third umpire because of Williamson's inside edge. When Josh heard the third umpire he, became enraged and shouted, "Who the fuck is the third umpire?". He was fined 15% of the match money and entered a guilty plea.
4. Ricky Ponting
At Melbourne's fourth Test match between Australia and England, Ricky Ponting and Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar got into a heated argument. Kevin Pietersen was the target of an Australian Team caught behind appeal. Aleem Dar turned down the appeal. Ponting chose to refer to a play, which the third umpire likewise rejected. He became enraged and argued with Aleem Dar, the square-leg umpire. He lost 10% of the match money as a result.
5. Glenn Mcgrath
Glenn McGrath received a red card from umpire Billy Bowden during an Australia vs New Zealand T20 match. This was because he was threatening to bowl underarm. Around the park, McGrath was being hit constantly. He threatened to bowl underarm like Greg Chappell, out of frustration. Glen was presented with the red card by Bowden.
6. Mike Gating
Mike Gatting and other English players had already expressed dissatisfaction with the umpiring during the last test against Pakistan's hosts. Shakoor Rana and Gatting got into a fight during the second test at Faisalabad after Rana accused Gatting of cheating by deflecting the batsman's attention and failing to inform him of the field change. He approached Rana and insulted her with square legs and other offensive slurs because he was tired of umpiring. Images of Gatting yelling and pointing angrily at Rana before Bill Athey hauled him away were broadcast.
7. Colin Croft
The West Indies squad began purposefully dropping catches and fielding poorly during the second test at Christchurch to protest the questionable umpiring. Colin Croft, a quick bowler, had had enough. He started by flicking the stumps' bails, and the subsequent delivery rammed into Goodall. Croft insisted that he had misplaced his run-up, but Goodall claimed it was entirely his fault and that Croft should have been given a suspension. Goodall made disparaging remarks regarding the West Indies in the future at several speaking appearances.
8. Muttiah Muralidharan
Umpire Darrell Hair repeatedly gave no-balls to Muttiah Muralidharan during the 1995 Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for tossing while he was near the bowler's end rather than the square leg. Additionally, when Murali came from his end, the other on-field umpire, New Zealander Steve Dunne, had no issues with what Murali was doing. Arjuna Ranatunga, the captain of Sri Lanka, was incensed by this and ordered his squad off the field before bringing them back. Steve Dunne, the other umpire, also made the point that the umpires are only able to report events to the match referee and cannot declare any actions to be illegal.
9. Inzamam-Ul-Haq
Umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove gave England five penalty runs on the fourth day of the fourth test of the bilateral series between England and Pakistan and found the Pakistani squad responsible for ball tampering. In protest over the choice, Pakistani captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and his team did not take the field after tea. This match was declared over when the umpires removed the bails two minutes after giving them the go-ahead to take the field. England was given the victory by forfeit.
10. Ms Dhoni
Former Australian batsman Mike Hussey got out in the 29th over of the match against Australia, after Suresh Raina's bowling, caused Dhoni to stump him. Hussey was out according to third umpire Bruce Oxenford. On-field umpire Billy Bowden hurried to call back the batsman as Hussey headed back to the pavilion. In such an important game, Dhoni was not happy with the event and got into a fight with Bowden.
