10 biggest cricket controversies of 2021

5. Tim Paine’s sexting scandal

Three years ago, when the Sandpaper scandal had taken shape, it was Tim Paine who had then helmed the Aussie team from the unfortunate crises. Despite not being well equipped with leadership skills, Paine almost restored the faith of many Aussie fans under his captaincy. Though the team lost twice at home against India, the 2021-22 Ashes seemed to be the last mega challenge before his retirement.

However, just about three weeks ago when the Ashes was about to begin, this Aussie gloveman got configured by a controversial incident that happened way back in 2017. The incident was about Paine being alleged of exchanging sexually graphic text messages to a female co-worker. Ultimately with the incident then making rounds in the public domain, even Cricket Australia faced the heat for not handling it well.

Consequently, this sensitive incident not only made Tim Paine resign from his captaincy but he later also announced an indefinite break from the game.