All in the game: The history of friction in the sporting world

From Sir Don Bradman to Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly, a cursory study of cricket history throws up interesting examples of conflict between players

When stories about the rift between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, India’s two best batsmen currently, started swirling around, I was surprised but hardly shocked. Dismaying as this may be for Indian cricket fans, the situation is not as alarming as feared even if the story is true (Kohli has denied it vehemently): unless the players themselves allow it to spin out of control.

Rifts and personality clashes are not uncommon in sport. In the 1980s, early in my career writing on sport, a budding first-class cricketer (who must remain unnamed) once told me how troubled he felt in his