10 forgettable moments that no Indian cricket fan will want to relive

Over the years, the Indian team has established itself as a superpower in the sport.

Right from their first match in 1932, the Indian players have given the fans a lot to cherish. The Vinoo Mankad-Pankaj Roy partnership in 1952, Sunil Gavaskar dominating the West Indian quicks in 1971, the World Cup win, numerous individual performances etc.

However, there are few memories the Indian fans would like to erase - MS Dhoni bringing the whole team to a press conference in 2009, Sunil Gavaskar walking off and threatening to concede the game after the umpire wrongly gave him out, the monkeygate scandal etc.

Let us take a look at ten embarrassing moments that no Indian cricket fan will want to relive.

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Sunil Gavaskar's 36 off 174

Without a doubt, Sunil Gavaskar is one of the greatest batsmen to have graced the sport. His numbers speak for themselves as the former Indian captain ended his career as the leading run-getter in Tests with 10122 runs in 125 matches at an average of 51.12.

But, the same cannot be said about his record in the ODIs as he managed to score 3092 runs in 108 ODIs at an average of 35.13. He has done a lot for Indian cricket but if he gets a chance to erase one thing from his career, it will be his innings against England in the first-ever ICC World Cup match.

Batting first, England scored 334/4 in their 60 overs, thanks to Dennis Amiss's 137 and Chris Old's 30-ball 51. Chasing 335 was never easy in those days. Opening the batting for India, Gavaskar remained unbeaten on 36 off 174 balls and India went on to end their innings at 132/3 in 60 overs, and in the process, handing England a huge 202-run win.

This innings is easily the most disgraceful innings played by an Indian batsman ever irrespective of the format.

Sourav Ganguly - Greg Chappell saga

In May 2005, former Australian captain Greg Chappell was appointed as the coach of the Indian cricket team for a two-year term until the World Cup 2007. His unorthodox cricket coaching methods which included tinkering the batting order often were criticized by the senior players and the fans.

Adding to this, Chapell's rift with captain Sourav Ganguly, which included the Aussie criticising the Indian skipper in public, showing his middle finger to the left-hander inside the team bus, reluctant to listen to the Bengal batsman's ideas etc. eventually led to the skipper facing the axe. This whole saga, the Indian fans would love to remove from their memory.

His tenure ended after India's poor performance in the 2007 World Cup that saw them getting knocked out in the first round.

India vs West Indies, 3rd Test at Bridgetown, Barbados in 1997

If you ask any Indian fan in the nineties about the worst nightmare they got due to the Indian team, the first thing they will say is the third Test between India and West Indies at Bridgetown, Barbados in 1997 which the Sachin Tendulkar-led Indian team lost by 38 runs, chasing just 120.

The Indian batsmen did not show any intention to score runs on the final day as Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop and Franklin Rose ran through the Indian line-up and dismissed them for just 81 with VVS Laxman being the only batsman to reach the double figures.

Skipper Sachin, in his autobiography, spoke about the match as he said, "Monday 31 March 1997 was a dark day in the history of Indian cricket and definitely the worst of my captaincy career. The defeat left me totally devastated and I shut myself in my room for two whole days trying to come to terms with the loss. I still feel the pangs of that defeat when I look back at the series."

1996 World Cup semi-final

The 1996 World Cup that took place in the Indian sub-continent had all the hype surrounding, thanks to the Men in Blue playing at home and Sachin Tendulkar being at his peak, destroying bowling attacks around the world.

Sachin didn't disappoint as he stamped his authority on the bowlers from day one. Eventually, India had to take on Sri Lanka in the semi-final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The players and the fans were shocked when skipper Mohammad Azharuddin chose to bowl first after winning the toss which led to speculations of the skipper's involvement in spot-fixing.

The Indian bowlers then restricted the Lankans for 251 and were off to a flying start, thanks to a brisk 65 from Sachin. The right-hander got out with the scorecard reading 98/2 and from there, the Indian team were reduced to 120/8 with Vinod Kambli and Anil Kumble at the crease. The Indian batsmen showed zero intent and were completely destroyed by Sanath Jayasuriya and co.

The disappointed Eden Gardens crowd turned hostile as they started burning placards in the stands and threw bottles into the ground. The match referee decided to abandon the game due to the behaviour of the crowd and awarded the match to Sri Lanka.

The scenes of Vinod Kambli leaving the ground in tears are still fresh in the memories of Indian fans.

The Anil Kumble-Virat Kohli fall-out

Anil Kumble did a fantastic job as an Indian coach in the one year he was at the helm as the Men in Blue didn't lose a single series under the supervision of the leg-spinner.

Ahead of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, there were reports of a rift between the Indian captain Virat Kohli and coach Kumble. Both Kohli and Kumble denied such allegations throughout the tournament and days after India lost the tournament Final to Pakistan, Kumble stepped down from his post, a day before his contract was due to expire.

After his resignation, he publicly admitted about his strained relationship with Kohli.

Things like these tend to happen in sports. But, both the parties could have handled it in a better manner and made sure that the rift between them was not made public. That period was shameful for Indian cricket.

Sanath Jayasuriya 189; Indian team 54

How often have you seen a batsman outscoring a team? There are not a lot of instances of this. The Indian team was involved in one such match - easily one of the matches Indian fans would like to erase from the history.

In the final of the 2000 Coco-Cola Champions Trophy at Sharjah, Sanath Jayasuriya completely destroyed the Indian bowling attack as he plundered 189 runs all by himself and took his team to 299/5 in 50 overs.

He faced 161 balls in his innings and scored 21 fours and four sixes and was flirting around with the 200-run mark. The left-hander could have easily breached the mark in ODIs 10 years before it was actually breached by India's Sachin Tendulkar in 2010 as when he got out to Sourav Ganguly, he needed 11 more runs for the landmark with 12 balls to go in the innings.

Chasing 300, the Sourav Ganguly-led side was never in contention as pacer Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan ran through the Indian line-up and dismissed them for just 54 runs, giving their team a 245-run win.

Eight consecutive away Test defeats

2011 is a memorable year for the Indian cricket fans as MS Dhoni led the Men in Blue to World Cup win after 28 years. The same year also saw the team reaching new lows as they put on a dismal performance during their tour of England and Australia.

A couple of months after winning the extravaganza, India took on England in a four-match Test series in England and were completely outplayed by the Poms, who handed Dhoni and co. a whitewash.

A few months later, India toured Australia and the scoreline was no different as the Aussies handed India yet another whitewash, making it eight losses in eight matches. It was when there were thoughts of sacking Dhoni as the skipper in less than a year after the World Cup win and N Srinivasan had to intervene and prevent the selectors from taking the decision.

Eventually, India ended their winless streak in 2014(vs England at Lord's), more than three years after their last Test win away from home (vs West Indies in 2011).

2013 IPL spot-fixing

Ever since the inception of IPL, a lot of young talents have gained attention and some even went on to make their debut for India. One can say that IPL is a boon for Indian cricket but, it has always had this questionable image of being rigged in the minds of a section of fans.

The IPL spot-fixing scandal in 2013 proved those claims as three Rajasthan Royals players, S Sreesanth, Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila were caught for fixing matches and were arrested during the tournament. Adding to this, the owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra respectively were involved in betting.

The players were banned for life by the BCCI and both the franchises were suspended for two years for their owners' involvement in betting.

2007 World Cup debacle

Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, all these names went to the Carribean islands to take part in the 2007 World Cup. One would have thought that India would go on to win the World Cup as they were the strongest team on paper.

However, to everyone's surprise, India were knocked out of the tournament after the first round as they lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The players were given a hostile welcome by the fans and had their houses pelted by stones.

One of the main reasons for the debacle is the coaching method of Greg Chappell as India went into the tournament with a new opening combination. Adding to this, there was no unity among the players which was very evident by the way they played in the tournament.

Indian cricket's worst hour

Fans burning the effigies and photos of Jadeja and Azhar

In 2000, the Delhi police intercepted a telephonic conversation between a bookie and the South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje from which they came to a conclusion that Cronje accepted money to throw matches.

Cronje was banned immediately and when he was investigated, he admitted to the offence and named Pakistan's Saleem Malik, then Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin and batsman Ajay Jadeja.

This controversy created a headache in the Indian cricket fraternity and the board banned Azhar for life and handed Jadeja a five-year ban.

This period was described by the BBC as "the Indian cricket's worst hour" as the Indian team was left with no proper direction going into the future. Players started doubting their teammates and there was no one to lead the team.

Fortunately, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly made sure took Indian cricket out of the dark times. All the senior players put aside their egos and personal ambitions to let Ganguly captain the team and lead them into a new era and as they say, the rest is history.