10 Active cricketers who have been involved in big controversies

The game of cricket is often called “The Gentlemen’s Game”, but there have been several instances that have left cricket fans shocked. Be it sledging, on-field fights, or social media comments, the cricketers often get involved in serious controversies and some of them have ruined their careers because of it. Sports is described as the biggest uniting force, but at times, controversies have divided the opinions among the fraternity and fans. Be it Hansie Cronje’s match-fixing saga, Steve Buckner’s controversial umpiring decisions, or the Monkeygate between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds, controversies have been a shadow of cricket for years. In recent years, the number of controversies has increased with social media’s evolution. Many cricketers got suspensions, bans, and notices from their respective cricket boards or even the ICC. Even the top cricketers of the world who are heroes to their fans have been involved in the controversies Here’s a look at 10 active cricketers who have been involved in controversies: 1. David Warner Australian cricketer David Warner speaks to the media during a press conference. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images) David Warner has been involved in numerous controversies. But the biggest of them was the Sandpaper Gate. During the third Test match between Australia and South Africa in Cape Town in 2018, Cameron Bancroft was captured trying to rough up one side of the ball with sandpaper. After investigations, David Warner (then vice-captain of the team) alongside Steve Smith (then captain of the team) were found guilty and were banned from international cricket for 12 months. They chose a young budding cricketer Bancroft to do so who was banned for nine months. This was not the first time that the Australian southpaw was involved in a controversy. During the Ashes in 2013, the cricketers were celebrating England’s win at Edgbaston at a bar in Birmingham. Warner is believed to have punched Joe Root in anger during that party. In 2018, Warner was again found having an altercation with Quinton de Kock near the dressing room. The video footage of the incident had gone viral. 2. Steve Smith Steve Smith in tears during the press conference. (Photo Source: ICC) Steve Smith has had a history of getting involved in serious controversies. He is counted among the top batters of the modern era and is a match-winner on any day. Despite being a player of such calibre, Smith has had some chapters in his career that he would want to forget. One of the top controversies in Smith’s career was against India in Bangalore in 2018. Smith was seen looking at the dressing room while taking a call for the DRS. The then Australian skipper called it a “brain fade” back then. He was heavily criticized by the former Australian cricketers as well. The then Indian captain Virat Kohli accused the Australians of routinely abusing the DRS calls and he said that they always tend to take help from the dressing room. The Sandpaper gate was also one of the darkest phases of Smith’s career as he was removed from the captaincy of the Australian cricket team after that. 3. Hardik Pandya Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul. (Photo Source: Twitter) Hardik Pandya made his way to the Indian cricket team through his impressive performance for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The whole of India saw a dependable fast-bowling all-rounder in him as he gave some match-winning performances, but controversies did affect his career. Pandya alongside KL Rahul was invited to the talk show “Koffee with Karan” hosted by popular filmmaker Karan Johar. The all-rounder made some unpleasant and misogynistic comments on the show and he was criticized by the Indian media, cricket fans, as well as former cricketers. Eventually, Hardik and Rahul were suspended by BCCI. The suspension was lifted after some time and they were fined INR 20 lakhs. Later, he took to Twitter to apologize for hurting people’s sentiments. 4. Ben Stokes England Cricketer Ben Stokes leaves Bristol Crown Court. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) Ben Stokes has repeatedly committed offenses. Anger has been a synonym for his name since the initial days of his cricketing career. In 2011, he was arrested after causing “bodily harm” in a nightclub in Bristol after England’s victory over West Indies in the third ODI. English cricket team has not been a stranger to controversies, and Stokes has been involved in plenty. In 2011 again, he got arrested for obstructing the police in Durham. He was drunk when the incident took place. In 2014 after being run-out over his first ball against West Indies in an ODI, he struck a locker in the dressing room very hard. In 2016, he was caught over-speeding four times in June alone. One of the most talked-about controversies of his career till now has been the obstructing the field saga in 2015 against Australia. He put his hands in the way of a throw from Mitchell Starc. 5. Shakib Al Hasan Shakib Al Hasan. (Photo Source: Twitter) Shakib Al Hasan has been the most important player for Bangladesh for more than a decade. Despite having contributed so much to Bangladesh cricket, Shakib has been involved in controversies several times in his career. He has had many disciplinary issues that led to trouble in his career. In 2014, Shakib pointed toward his crotch on live television during an ODI match against Sri Lanka in Dhaka. He was banned for three ODIs and got fined BDT 300,000. In 2014, he allegedly sent a threatening text message to coach Chandika Hathurusingha to quit the national team. He was then reportedly caught trying to travel to West Indies to take part in CPL. Shakib was banned for six months after that. He was banned again for one year from international cricket after accepting three charges under ICC anti-corruption code. In 2021, Shakib was seen showing his disrespect to the umpire’s decision at the Dhaka Premier League and was suspended for three matches after kicking the stumps angrily. 6. Alex Hales Alex Hales. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Alex Hales, who was earlier considered to become a star for English cricket, has not played international cricket since 2019. Hales is a hard-hitting English opener who has played some amazing innings for England in white-ball cricket. Hales was named in England’s 15-member squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019, but just before the tournament, he failed a drugs test. Hales was handed over a 21-day ban by the ECB and his name was removed from the squad. Since then, he has not been considered for any international fixture by the ECB selectors. The opening batter has not been new to controversies. He alongside his fellow teammate Ben Stokes was involved in a nightclub brawl in September 2017. Hales was fined a total of 17,500 pounds and was handed a six-match ban from England’s white-ball matches. He has also been charged with two counts of breaching the ECB Directive concerning acts. 7. Ahmed Shehzad Ahmed Shehzad. (Photo Source: Twitter) Ahmed Shehzad used to be a regular in the Pakistan cricket team before he was dropped by the selectors. He was seen making a religious remark on Tillakaratne Dilshan in 2014. During an ODI between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in 2014, Shahzad was seen offering Dilshan to convert to Islam as his religion. Shehzad allegedly told Tillakaratne Dilshan, “If you are a non-Muslim, and you turn Muslim, no matter whatever you do in your life, straight to heaven.” To be noted, Dilshan used to follow Islam before converting to Buddhism and changing his name from Tuwan Mohammed Dilshan to Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan. Shehzad was heavily criticized by the media as well as by former cricket players for saying these words. 8. James Faulkner James Faulkner. (Photo Source: Twitter) James Faulkner used to be an important player for the Australian team a few years ago but he has not played top-level cricket for a long time now. He got involved in a big controversy in 2022 while playing Pakistan Super League with the Quetta Gladiators. It all started from his tweet where he was seen showing disagreement about not getting paid. Yes, you read it right. He left PSL in between after not getting honoured with his contractual agreement. He wrote in his tweet that the officials of the franchise continued to lie to him throughout the tournament. It was in the headlines that Faulkner reportedly threw his bat and helmet in the hotel after a heated discussion with a PCB official. However, the PCB and PSL franchise Quetta Gladiators issued a joint statement denying his allegations and stated that the Aussie will never be part of the PSL seasons in the future. 9. Tim Paine Tim Paine. (Photo by PATRICK HAMILTON/AFP via Getty Images) Tim Paine captained the Australian Test team for a few years when Smith and Warner got banned. Paine has not had many memories to cherish as a skipper for Australia as the team suffered many losses under his captaincy. Just before The Ashes 2021-12, he resigned from the post of captain of Australia. He announced his decision after his inappropriate texts to his female colleague came to light. It was alleged that Paine used to send those explicit messages regularly. He stepped down after the screenshots of his chats went viral. The woman claimed that she often got offended by inappropriate pictures and complained to the Australian Human Rights Commission regarding sexual harassment. Paine broke down at a press conference while talking about the incident. 10. Brendan Taylor Brendan Taylor. (Photo Source: Twitter) Brendan Taylor has been one of the greatest players to play for Zimbabwe. Despite having a decent and long cricket career, Taylor’s name got involved in one of the most serious controversies cricket has ever seen. His name came in front during investigations of spot-fixing allegations. He was handed over a three-and-a-half-year ban by ICC for the delay in reporting the spot-fixing approach. He informed through his Twitter handle that he was approached by an Indian businessman in 2019 to fix some games. Taylor admitted that he was given a part payment to spot-fix matches, which according to him, he never did. In his tweet, he said that he was invited to India on the pretext of discussing sponsorships and the potential launch of a T20 competition in Zimbabwe and was paid USD 15,000 in advance. He claimed that he was forced to intake cocaine and was blackmailed to fix games. He added that “I may be anything but I am not a cheat. My love for the beautiful game of cricket far outweighs and surpasses any threats which could be thrown away.”

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10 Active cricketers who have been involved in big controversies

These players faced bans either from their cricket board or from the ICC.

9. Tim Paine

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