Cricket serves a lot of drama, excitement and fun. There are many battles between players or teams that serve as perfect revenge stories and make for a great watch.
Here are few of the revenge stories in Indian cricket:
1) Sourav Ganguly’s waving off his T-shirt at Lord’s balcony in 2002
When Indian captain Sourav Ganguly waived off his T-shirt at the Lord’s balcony after India won the NatWest Trophy in 2002, it was the perfect response to England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff’s antics. Flintoff had gone topless after bowling England to 5-run win in an ODI against India in 2001. Later, Dada mentioned he went topless to answer Flintoff's shirtless act.
2) Yuvraj Singh replies with the bat against Flintoff's sledging in 2007 World T20
India were cruising to a big total in the 2007 World T20 match as Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni were looking to make it difficult for England. If they needed further motivation to do well in the death overs, it was provided by England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff who had a war of words with Yuvraj just before Stuart Broad was set to begin the 19th over.
The Indian all-rounder, then vented out all his frustration and anger in the Broad's over, hitting all his six balls for huge sixes. Flintoff was seen shrugging off his head for hurting his team's chances by sledging India's angry young man Yuvraj Singh.
3) Venkatesh Prasad’s clash with Aamer Sohail at the 1996 World Cup
In the 1996 World Cup quarter-finals, Pakistan openers Aamer Sohail and Saeed Anwar were butchering the Indian bowling attack. Sohail, who was leading the side in the absence of injured Wasim Akram, was going hammer and tongs, racing to a quick fifty. After hitting a boundary, he gestured Prasad with the bat that he is going to keep hitting Prasad’s deliveries to the boundaries.
Next ball, Prasad gets his revenge as he shattered Sohail's stumps with an incoming delivery. Prasad let few expletives out as Sohail walked past him. India won the quarterfinal by 39 runs.
4) India beat Australia 4-0 in 2012-13
When India toured Australia for a four match-Test series in 2011-12, they were beaten comprehensively by a 0-4 margin under MS Dhoni, with two innings defeat. India had a team of ageing superstars, including Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.
But when Australia came back next year for a 4-match Test series, captain Dhoni led from the front to inflict a 4-0 whitewash on Australia to exact fairytale revenge. Dhoni started the proceedings with a cracking 224 in the first Test before his players followed suit.
Cover picture credits: BBC
