5 Controversies in the T20 World Cup

There is not a single event related to humankind that goes without any controversies and events as huge as sports tournaments which attract most media and the public is always in the limelight.

There are always one or the other controversial moments in the current or previous events of the tournaments, from football to cricket. And therefore, the T20 world cup is no exception to this fate of publicized events. 

T20 is already surrounded with controversies after some of the biggest rival matches ended in an unexpected manner and led to public outrage and many other comments hurting the religious sentiments. Let us look at some more controversies the T20 World Cup has faced earlier.

1. Pakistani Jerseys

The captain of the team of Pakistan had a picture trending on social media even before the tournament began. In this picture, his kit for the event had UAE as its host written on it instead of India. India was supposed to conduct the tournament but it could not due to the situation of Covid-19 in the country.

While the matches were moved to the stadiums of UAE and Oman keeping in mind the safety of the citizens and the players, the host of the event is still officially India and all the jerseys of all the teams should still read “‘ICC Men’s T20 World Cup India 2021” as per the guidelines of ICC.

This viral picture is therefore in disregard of ICC and BCCI but it is not uploaded on any official handle of the Pakistani Cricket Team and is therefore not credible. So before taking any action, the authorities decided to wait till there was an official announcement from the cricket team of Pakistan. Other teams such as Scotland released their kit for the event on the official social media page which read the correct host. 

2. Yuvraj and Flintoff Clash

Back in 2007, India was playing against England in this tournament and things got ugly when the star players of the two teams- Yuvraj and Andre Flintoff exchanged some heated words on the pitch.

The issue was mediated but the rivalry still seethed and this is when Yuvraj hit six sixes in a row that is still considered one of the most iconic moments of Indian Cricket and made the English cricketers hold back their pride after being shown such dramatic batting.

3. Quinton de Kock of South Africa

Quinton de Kock, the South African wicketkeeper refused to take a knee, thereby disobeying the directive forcing all the players in the team to take a knee during his match against West Indies in T20 World 2021.

Though Cricket South Africa says it was his personal decision, they are awaiting further reports from the management of the team before taking any further steps. They have, however, reiterated the directive of taking the knee for remaining matches.

Though he is being targeted online for not taking the knee, many of the cricketers support him by saying it is a matter of personal choice. He is one of the important players in the field of cricket and most of the cricket experts share details about him in their fantasy cricket tips.

4. Symonds packed off

In the 2009 T20, the Australian star cricketer Andrew Symonds was accused of breaking the rules as well as other alcohol-related notices. Due to these controversies, his career was cut short that arose in the tournament and he was sent back home on the ground of breaking the rules.

Shortly afterward, his contract with the Australian men’s cricket team was also terminated and his promising career was plunged into darkness. 

5. Gender Divide

In 2012,  the T20 for men and women categories were held simultaneously. However, as one can expect, the men’s tournament got far more prize money and media coverage as compared to the women’s tournament.

Moreover, the reputed news agency BBC also covered a story that highlighted the differences between the daily allowances of the team members between the men’s and women’s tournaments as well. This got ICC T20 widespread criticism.

Conclusion

As mentioned previously, there are hardly any media events that are not ridden with controversies and it is not shocking that such a popular tournament is almost up to its eyeballs in controversies. Still, the game goes on and the fans continue to enjoy the matches just as before.