Mohammad Azharuddin wants BCCI to give second chance to tainted players

Former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin has come out in support of tainted players who have served their ban periods. As per the quotes in Hindustan Times, the former cricketer mentioned that mistakes are part and parcel of life. Any person can make mistakes and hence a second chance must be bestowed to such players, given that they serve their punishment period. He urged the BCCI to reconsider the case of such players.

The indirect link could be hinted at tainted pace bowler S Sreesanth. The Kerala pacer was banned by the BCCI in 2013 after he was found guilty of spot-fixing charges in the IPL. Sreesanth, who played for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL that season, had the evidence going against him. The Delhi High Court, had, however, dismissed the case that was registered by the Delhi Police.

The case was dismissed citing the provisions for organised crime (MCOCA). Since then, Sreesanth has been requesting the BCCI to grant him permission to make a comeback to cricket. He has not been allowed to feature in the official match. Also, the board refused to give an NOC for participating and playing in Scotland. “Anyone can make mistakes… such cricketers should be given a second chance.” Mohammad Azharuddin quoted.

Interestingly, even Azharuddin was involved in a match-fixing scandal back in 2000. He was, however, acquitted of all charges against him by the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The court ruled the ban imposed on Azhar to be illegal in 2012.

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The other players who were involved in that match-fixing scandal were Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar. All three players were slapped a ban of 5 years. While Jadeja made a comeback in first-class cricket for Haryana, Prabhakar served as a coach for the Delhi Ranji team. Azharuddin did not make a comeback to the sport and joined politics.