From Lala Amarnath to Duncan Fletcher, a look at some abrupt fixes in Indian cricket

India coach Duncan Fletcher’s wings have been clipped with Ravi Shastri’s appointment as team director and the bowling and fielding coaches have been sent on leave. This isn’t the first time that Team India had to resort to abrupt fixes. Here’s a look at some bumpy instances of change:

Lala Amarnath blows his top

Lala, in the words of his teammate Mushtaq Ali, was “quick to love and quick to fight”. During the England tour of 1936, when captain Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram sent lesser batsman to bat ahead of Lala while he was made to wait padded up, the earthy Punjabi lost his cool. He ripped his pads off in disgust and let it fly in his mother tongue. For this, he was packed off home.

Kapil Dev cries on national television

In May 2000, Kapil Dev broke down and shed tears on national television as he battled allegations of bribing Manoj Prabhakar to underperform. In September that year, he resigned as national coach even as he denied wrong doing. “I know I am clean, I have nothing to hide...But I am finished with cricket. It’s not worth it,” he had said. A CBI investigation found no evidence against the former India captain.

Virender Sehwag’s double drop

After the second Test match between India and South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 2001, match referee Mike Denness penalized six Indian players, including Sehwag, for enthusiastic appealing and Sachin Tendulkar for ball tampering. India and BCCI were furious. The ICC backed Denness and so, BCCI along with the South African board replaced Denness. In retaliation, the third Test was deemed unofficial by ICC. Sehwag, who had received a suspension, sat out the third Test but the matter did not end there. BCCI selected him for the first Test of the next series against England, who threatened to boycott if he played. BCCI’s claim: Sehwag had served his sentence by missing a Test. ICC’s argument: the Test Sehwag had missed was an unofficial Test. So, Sehwag missed the first Test against England too.

Bishan Singh Bedi vs The little master

Back in 1978-79, Bishan Singh Bedi had lost form and Test captaincy after India’s tour of Pakistan. Sunil Gavaskar had been made skipper and the West Indies were touring. Bedi ended the series with seven wickets after bowling 130 overs. Much later, in an interview, Bedi accused Gavaskar of underplaying and under bowling him. Bedi got to play a few more Tests when S Venkataraghavan captained the team to a tour of England but when Gavaskar came back on the saddle, it was all over for Bedi.

Navjot Sidhu goes home

Midway through India’s tour of England in 1996, opener Navjot Sidhu walked out. Speculation was rife till a few years ago when cricket administrator Jaywant Lele wrote about it in his autobiography. The story goes like this: captain Mohammad Azharuddin would always address Sidhu with an abuse, which was considered a cussword in north India but a term of endearment in Hyderabad. Sidhu steamed and walked out.

The axing of Sourav Ganguly

This coach-pupil love story went downhill rapidly. In 2003, Ganguly headed off to Oz to take batting tips from Guru Greg. A century at Gabba followed. In May 2005, Ganguly proposed Chappell as the next Indian coach, twice. Chappell got the job but then things went sour. In less than six months after Chappell was appointed coach, Ganguly was replaced by Rahul Dravid in November 2005 as skipper.

Greg Chappell gets the boot

What goes around comes around. After Chappell ousted Ganguly in a dressing room coup, the Australian had a good run with new captain Rahul Dravid for a while. But then, things started unravelling thanks to his abrasive ways and poor man management. The disastrous World Cup 2007 campaign was the last straw and Chappell’s India run was over.