What is the most controversial moment in cricket history, and why?

 I remember two incidents straightaway, both equally controversial and would've been very significant in big results of two different world cups.

22(13) becomes 22(1) !!!

South Africa took on England in the semifinals match of 1992 world cup in Sydney. It was a rain affected game. As a result, both the sides could bat for only 45 overs. Opting to bat first, England had scored 252/6 in their 45 overs. South Africa were going pretty good in the run chase despite the hiccups.

South Africa needed just 22 runs in 13 balls with 4 wickets in hand and two batters with good nick [Brian McMillan 21(21) and David Richardson 13(10)] in the middle. But suddenly, the rain gods appeared. The brainfade rule of the organisers (That no play could continue after 9:30pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time) meant that no play could continue.

Add to that, lowest-scoring-over rules (Not today's Duckworth lewis rule) meant that the equation came down ridiculously from 22 off 13 to 22 off 1. That's gotta be Cricket’s most controversial match of All-time (Both technologically and regulationally).

6 runs, instead of 5 runs !!!

It was the 2019 world cup finals between England and New Zealand. Opting to bat first on a big day, New Zealand could post only 241/8 in their 50 overs. In reply, England were in a tough situation, having to score 15 runs in the last over with just 2 wickets in hand.

Ben Stokes was the batter and Trent Boult was the bowler. The equation came down to 9 from 3. That's when Stokes hit a low full toss of Boult towards deep midwicket region. Guptill collected the ball and threw towards the keeper's end, where the ball collided with Stokes' bat and raced towards the boundary ropes for the four.

Here's the rule of ICC for deflection off the bat -

Law 19.8 of the ICC rules, pertaining to 'Overthrow or wilful act of fielder' - "If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the wilful act of a fielder, the runs scored shall be any runs for penalties awarded to either side, and the allowance for the boundary, and the runs completed by the batsmen, together with the run in progress if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act."

But it was very evident even for the viewers that the second run was incomplete. But the collective brainfade decision from the main umpire and the leg side umpire meant that England were awarded an extra run. At that moment, nobody would've thought how costly would that decision turn out to be.

In the end, the match not just ended in a tie after the first 50 overs, but also got tied in the super over !! For such an incredible cricket match, the winner was decided based on the boundary count ! Imagine what would've been the result if that extra run wasn't awarded for England !

These two incidents are unarguably the most controversial ones in Cricket till date.

Image - Google.

What are some of the most controversial best Picture wins where critics and audiences disagreed, and why?

 In the year 1993 Ham hai Rahi Pyar ke won the Best Film filmfare award above films which were critically and commercially more successful than Ham Hai Rahi Pyar ke

Ham hai Rahi Pyar Ke was neither the most successful film of the year nor the most acclaimed. In the terms of business

1. Aankhen
2. Khalnayak
3. Darr
4. Baazigar
5. Tiranga
6. Damini
7. Anari
8. Dalaal
9. Gardish
10. Lootere
11. Gumrah
12. Kshatriya
13. Ham hai Rahi Pyar ke

Let's look at the IMDb ratings of the films nominated for Best Film that year

1. Damini- 7.8
2. Darr- 7.6
3. Baazigar - 7.6
4. Ham hai Rahi Pyar ke- 7.3
5. Khalnayak- 7.1
6. Aankhen- 6.8

That year Damini was robbed of many deserving awards. Meenakshi was robbed of Best Actress filmfare by Juhi Chawla for Ham hai Rahi Pyar ke. The film despite being the most hard hitting film of the year didn't get the Best Film award. Eventually the film won the National award for Best Hindi film. Darr won the National award for Popular film and Ham hai Rahi Pyar ke won Jury Special award. Clearly, the jury of National awards didn't consider HHRPK the best film of the year.

Among the critically acclaimed films of the year we could have Gardish and Rudaali in the forefront but even those films were considered for award.

Similar thing happened in 1996 when a popular romantic film like Raja Hindustani (which was not even acclaimed by critics) got best film over Maachis, Bandit Queen, Khamoshi, Agnisakshi all much much better films. Eventually Maachis won 2 national awards, Bandit Queen as well, Khamoshi and Agnisakshi won 1. Nana Patekar was nominated for Best actor for both Khamoshi and Agnisakshi (for which he won a national award) but the award went to Aamir Khan for RH. Karishma Kapoor won Best Actress over Tabu who won National award the same year for Maachis and also above Seema Biswas who also won National Award for Bandit Queen. Manisha Koirala was also one of the finalists of the National awards for Khamoshi and still they chose Karishma Kapoor.

In 1997 again, Dil to Pagal hai got best film over Border, Chachi 420 and Virasat. Shahrukh Khan won Best actor for Dil to Pagal hai above Anil for Virasat or Kamal Haasan for Chachi 420. Madhuri Dixit for her mediocre performance won best actress (despite being overshadowed by Karishma Kapoor in the same film) above Tabu for Virasat.

In 1998 Kuch kuch Hota hai won Best Film above Satya and Zakhm. Ajay Devgn won the National award for Best actor and Manoj Bajpayee also won a national award for best supporting actor Satya but the filmfare for Best actor went to SRK for Kuch kuch Hota hai and Salman Khan got best supporting actor filmfare for the same.

What is the most controversial movie of Amitabh Bachchan?

 Amitabh Bachchan has many controversies but there is no such movie which created a huge controversy. Still there are three movies which entered the controversy parameter.

Amitabh Bachchan starrer HUM which was directed by Mukul Anand had a famous song Jhumma Chumma. Today it might seem normal but during that time it hurted the religious sentiments of some Muslims as Jhumma means Friday and has significance in Islam. The song despite being a chartbuster on Binaca Geet Mala (a radio program mostly remembered for the voice of Ameen Sayani) was not allowed to play on Vividh Bharti and other radio channels.

Amitabh , Revathi and Jiah Khan movie Nishabd which was directed by Ramgopal Verma created a slight controversy. Amitabh fans found it shameful that the actor accepted the role. He played the role of a married man who falls in love with a young girl who is not only of her daughter's age but also her daughter’s friend.

Controversy was also created when Amitabh starred in the film Boom. It is termed as a B Grade movie and specially remembered for some hot scenes between Gulshan Grover and Katrina Kaif, but Amitabh's character was below his standard and a misfit in the film. However those were the days when the actor was going through financial crisis and may be he did not gave a second thought while signing the movie.

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