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While cricket has entertained us endlessly for decades put together, it has consistently provided enough fodder for discussion or let's put it simply, endless debates.
There have always been controversial instances or occurrences that have reduced the game's reputation, maligned its spirit and when not, then simply stirred fans and not always for the best of reasons.
So which have been some of world cricket's biggest controversies? Let's find out:
The Bodyline Series
Test match cricket is, at best, complex, exceedingly competitive and hugely arresting. And it tends to always birth rivalries that over the course of time, become legendary. One such cricketing rivalry exists between England and Australia that reached during the 1932-33 series a grand stature, but mostly because of the controversial bodyline series.
Dubbed a highly controversial and endlessly dangerous bowling tactic used by England, the Australians at that time, faced a barrage of endless short pitched bowling by their rivals. England clearly intentionally bowled at the Australian batters' body targeting them with good measure in a bid to cause upset or jolt their confidence or composure.
While the tactic was within the rules of the game, it posed significant danger to cricketers who risked their actual lives on account of England's tactics.
Surely, the big proponents of Bodyline bowling at that time - Harold Larwood and Bill Voce - didn't earn any brownie points for having receded to that level of dangerous bowling.
Sachin being the victim of Daryl Harper's bizarre umpiring
Back in the day while officiating in a crucial India-Australia Test in Adeliade in 1999, umpire Daryl Harper adjudged Sachin Tendulkar out LBW against Glenn McGrath.
Except there was a small problem, rather a huge one.
McGrath had bowled a bouncer and Tendulkar had ducked, resulting in the ball hitting his shoulder in front of the stumps.
The umpire, who is currently 73 and still stands by that decision having reflected upon it recently, officiated Tendulkar as being out.
Just that it led to a huge controversy as to whether or not the decision was right in any way.
World cricket's first well-known "Underarm ball"
The first-ever widely documented or extensively covered incident involving an actual delivery that was bowled "underarm" was in a crucial Australia versus New Zealand game.
The Australian bowler Trevor Chappell, in a widely-followed one day contest in 1981 bowled the final delivery as an underarm ball. This was done with proper guidance received from - and consultation done with - his captain Greg Chappell and was done in a bid to avoid the six runs that the Kiwis needed off that last delivery.
While at that time bowling underarm was actually dubbed 'legal', a controvery broke out on whether or not that was the right thing to do given the spirit of the game.
Brian Lara scoring cricket's first-ever 400 and being dubbed "Selfish"
The grace, the poise and the inimitable style; Brian Lara had it all and well until the final inning of his entire career, circa 2007. But three years earlier, Lara, a lover of daddy hundreds at the Test match level did something unthinkable during England's 2004 tour to the West Indies.
He became the only player ever at the time, something that hasn't changed even today, to hit 400 runs on his own. He did that and remained unbeaten especially during a time where one more Test defeat in the series would have led to the English whitewashing the West Indies for the first time ever in the five-day format.
But Lara's 582-ball stay at the wicket led to some blazing heroics with the bat, except some clearly weren't impressed with the Trinidadian with former Australian captain Ponting calling the left hander's inning "selfish".
However, a question remains: had Lara not batted for that long, were his team even capable of bowling out England in a bid to extract a win? This was a team with Strauss and Flintoff as batters.
If not, how was his batting indicative of anything selfish?
R. Ashwin's "Mankading" incident
In the 2019 IPL season, Ravichandran Ashwin, widely respected as one of the game's finest off-spinners of all time, decided to "Mankad" Rajasthan Royals' batter at that time: Jos Buttler.
The dismissal came into effect after Ashwin disturbed the bails at the non-striker's end where Buttler had clearly moved out of the crease even before the delivery had been made or even rendered complete.
The wicket did fall into Punjab's clutches but it also, at the same time, birthed a whole new controversy with the "Mankading" dismissal earning the wrath or should one say a cesspool of reactions from world cricket fans.
Was Ashwin right to do so?
Perhaps the better question could be whether Mankading was well within the spinner's right to execute and the common answer since that time, has been a resounding yes.
The bizarre no-balls delivered by Mohd. Aamir
In cricket, a common sight much like fours and sixes are no-balls. But there have been times where these have been bowled deliberately by bowlers for they perform contrary to the spirit of the game. Right conduct, after all, isn't always considered right by some who tamper with the fabric of the game.
One such bizarre but widely documented event was when Mohd. Aamir of Pakistan bowled extensive no-balls and deliberately so during the infamous spot-fixing saga of 2010.
England hosted Pakistan and Amir, in his maiden assignment in England acted absolutely contrary to the conduct of a true sportsman.
