The IPL will be played for the 13th time in 2020. In this entire period, the IPL has become the most important and powerful T20 league in the world. Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are the most dominant teams in the IPL while the likes of Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad have also held their own. With the intensity of the competition, there is also immense rivalries which sometimes spills over into the field. It can also result in some ugly fights. Here is looking back at five ugly fights in the history of the IPL.
The IPL will be played for the 13th time in 2020. In this entire period, the IPL has become the most important and powerful T20 league in the world. Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are the most dominant teams in the IPL while the likes of Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad have also held their own. With the intensity of the competition, there is also immense rivalries which sometimes spills over into the field. It can also result in some ugly fights. Here is looking back at five ugly fights in the history of the IPL.
1. IPL 5 ugly fights
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The IPL had seen some major altercations in the past but in the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League, the clash between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders saw an ugly fight between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir. Virat Kohli went for a wild slash at Laxmipathy Balaji’s delivery. However, he ended up being caught at the sweeper cover region. Instead of walking towards the pavilion however, Kohli walked over to the bowler and made a remark towards his way. Gambhir was not having any of it and immediately went to defend his bowler. Neither of the two backed down however, and soon a shouting match ensued. The pair were finally stopped by another Delhi lad, Rajat Bhatia who got in between them and finally calmed Gambhir down. After the match, both patched up. (Image credit: Twitter)
2. IPL 5 ugly fights
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The incident occurred in the 17th over of Mumbai's innings. Starc bowled a bouncer at Pollard, who was beaten as he attempted a hook. Starc went up to the batsman and spoke a few words and Pollard's reaction was to wave him off. As Starc ran in to bowl the next ball, Pollard pulled out of the delivery by backing away outside leg stump just as the bowler was approaching his jump. Starc did not abort the delivery, though; instead he followed the batsman and bowled the ball in anger close to Pollard's legs. Pollard responded by swinging his bat hard - appearing to threaten to throw it at the bowler - and it slipped out of his hand and fell on the leg side. Both players were visibly angry and continued to exchange words. Starc and Pollard admitted to Level 2 offences and the bowler was fined 50 percent of his match fee, while Pollard was fined 75 percent. (Image credit: Twitter)
3. IPL 5 ugly fights
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In IPL 2013, there was another major incident, this time between Shane Watson, playing for Rajasthan Royals at that time and Kieron Pollard. As soon as Shane Watson came down to bat, Kieron Pollard mockingly laughed in Shane Watson’s ears and made him feel insulted. Watson did not get the real motive of Pollard’s intentional act and he felt disturbed. Very soon both were on some extremely rude and undesirable verbal fight. When Watson holed out to Pollard, the West Indies allrounder gave him a big send-off and that prompted coach Rahul Dravid to term Pollard's act "cowardly". (Image credit: Twitter)
4. IPL 5 ugly fights
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Perhaps, the first major fight of IPL and it involved Sourav Ganguly and Shane Warne in the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. Warne was already irritated by the time Ganguly refused to walk for a catch claimed at deep midwicket by Graeme Smith. Then came a moment. Smith was convinced he had taken Ganguly's catch cleanly, and so, plainly, was Warne. But Ganguly asked for a replay - which he is not supposed to do - and Asad Rauf up in the TV box could not be 100 percent certain the ball had not bounced. Ganguly fell in the next over anyway, but Warne was furious. (Image credit: Twitter)
5. IPL 5 ugly fights
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Can you believe that captain cool lost his cool? MS Dhoni storming the Sawai Mansingh absolutely furious was one of the sights of IPL 2019. During the clash between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2019, a no-ball confusion ensued as the two umpires seemingly failed to come to an agreement over the height of the fourth ball delivered to Mitchell Santner. Dhoni, who just took off his pads, stormed on to the field and was seen furiously arguing with Indian umpire Ulhas Gandhe. It was just lucky that Dhoni did not get a ban and was just fined his match fee. (Image credit: Twitter)
