10 Scandals involving Match-Fixing, Spot-Fixing, and Corruption that rocked Cricket
In the past, some players corrupted the game of cricket and faced severe repercussions for their actions.
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2. 2000 match-fixing scandal (India-South Africa series)
In April 2000, match-fixing rocked Indian cricket for the first time as Delhi police charged Hansie Cronje with fixing South Africa’s ODI games against India for money. The police also released a recording between Cronje and a bookmaker, Sanjeev Chawla. Denying the charges at a press conference, Cronje gave a statement that he neither received any money nor spoke to any of his teammates about throwing matches.
However, two days after the press conference, the South Africa Cricket Board fired Cronje, following his admission to South Africa’s managing director, Ali Bacher, of being dishonest in the India series. After a few months, Cronje revealed that the former India skipper captain Mohammad Azaharuddin introduced him to the bookie. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) released a report in October 2000, which said Azharuddin's confession about fixing matches with the help of his teammates Ajay Jadeja and Nayan Mongia.
In November 2000, the BCCI's anti-corruption commissioner K Madhavan declared Azharuddin guilty. Along with Azhar, Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma, and former India team physio, Ali Irani were also found guilty of having connections with bookies. Next month, Azhar and Sharma got suspended from the sport for life while Jadeja got a five-year ban. Prabhakar and Irani were kept away from holding the post for five years. However, things got better for Jadeja in 2003 as the Delhi High Court overturned BCCI's decision of his ban due to no proof of the batter's involvement in match-fixing. In 2012, the Andhra High Court termed the life ban on Azharuddin 'illegal.'
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