Former South African captain Hansie Cronje was detained in 2000 by the Delhi Police for dating Sanjay Chawla, a participant in the Indian betting ring. The most serious match-fixing scandal in cricket history is still thought to have occurred as a result of this episode. The IPL match-fixing incident from the sixth season and the 2000 match-fixing scandal are also among cricket’s biggest match-fixing scandals.
When not caught, match-fixing, like gambling and betting, has grown to be a very lucrative business for both players and nefarious syndicates. You’ve put together a list of cricket match-fixing scandals that seriously damaged the sport’s reputation.
Top 10 Biggest Match-Fixing Scandals In Cricket:
1. Hansie Cronje
One of the biggest match-fixing scandals in cricket history occurred in 2000 when the Delhi Police disclosed that they had captured shady conversations between Sanjay Chawla and Hansie Cronje. Fans idolised Cronje, a popular and successful South African cricket player.
However, he was divisive because of his association with Sanjay Chawla. Sanjay was identified as a well-known participant in the Indian betting ring. In his initial denial of all allegations of match-fixing, Cronje sobbed, but this was followed by him under cross-examination.
In the end, Hansie Cronje was given a cricket-playing ban for life. In addition, there were suspicions that Cronje had been murdered before he died in a plane crash in 2002.
2. 2000 Match Fixing Controversy
Manoj Prabhakar, an Indian player, raised the alert in 1998. One of the biggest match-fixing scandals in cricket history resulted from the disturbing information he provided to the BCCI. Jadeja claimed they attempted to buy him off with a Rs 25 lakh payment from a teammate.
He made an effort to make up for Manoj’s subpar performance against Pakistan in 1994. The investigation revealed that Prabhakar was pointing at Kapil Dev. After police searched the houses of well-known cricket players and officials in 2000, Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma were subject to a total ban. The police also asserted that Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Jadeja, and Ajay Sharma had connections to bookmakers.
3.Mohammad Azharuddin
During the 1990s, Mohammad Azharuddin was an outstanding batsman and a capable leader of the Indian Cricket Team. He was charged with match-fixing in 2000. A cricket player from South Africa named Hansie Cronje is charged with match-fixing.
When he accepted his wrongdoings, he told the investigators that Azhar had introduced him to bookies. He was consequently found guilty of manipulating three ODIs by the police. The BCCI and ICC then permanently banned him.
Azhar later asserted that he was being drawn into a conspiracy because of his religion, Islam. However, the Andhra Pradesh High Court removed the restriction in 2012.
4. Salim Malik
Salim Malik was praised as a terrific cricketer and led the Pakistani squad in the 1980s and 1990s. It did not become public knowledge that he was involved in the biggest match-fixing cases, though. He became the first cricketer in the twenty-first century to get a match-fixing suspension.
Malik was put on leave while leading a cricket tour that included South Africa and Zimbabwe. He continued to play while refuting the accusations made against him by the authorities. After participating in more than 100 Test matches, Malik’s playing career came to an end. Authorities judged him guilty of manipulating cricket matches, and he was given a life sentence.
5. Mark Waugh and Shane Warne
Australian cricketers Mark Waugh and Shane Warne furnished Indian bookmaker John the Bookmaker with weather and pitch data between 1994 and 1995 in exchange for cash. The biggest match-fixing scandal of the 1990s involved this, and the Australian Cricket Board first showed a strong desire to conceal it.
When the issue surfaced in 1998, Warne and Waugh both made justifications, insisting that they had never divulged strategic knowledge.
Interesting note: Saleem Malik, the captain of Pakistan’s cricket team, called Shane Warne to testify against him for trying to bribe him into losing games. Despite this disclosure, the world still greatly doubts his credibility.
6. The No-Ball Scandal of Pakistan
Members of the Pakistani national cricket team were exposed in 2010 by a News of the World undercover investigation for collecting bribes from bookmaker Mazhar Majeed in exchange for playing no-balls.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) judged Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, and Mohammad Amir guilty and suspended them for five to ten years.
In 2011, they were also accused of conspiring to intentionally play no-ball in Test matches, for which they received prison terms ranging from 6 to 32 months.
7. Mervyn Westfield
In one of cricket’s largest match-fixing scandals, Mervyn Westfield confessed and became the first English cricketer to be convicted guilty of spot-fixing. Police detained Westfield in 2012 after discovering evidence of “match irregularities” during the domestic 2009 season. He acknowledged giving £6,000 in exchange for purposefully bowling wide.
In addition to receiving a lifetime ban from playing cricket in England and Wales, he was given a four-month prison sentence in 2012.
8. Marlon Samuels
Samuels was a member of the West Indies cricket squad in 2012, the year they won the ICC World Twenty20. Prior to that, though, in 2008, he was transferred to a bookmaker in advance of the West Indies-India game in Nagpur because he was thought to be disseminating knowledge on team strategies.
Even though Samuels maintained his innocence, phone conversation recordings contained enough proof to support a two-year ban. After a brief ban, Marlon Samuels made a successful comeback to the field.
9. Maurice Odumbe
This Kenyan cricketer won the Man of the Match award during Kenya’s triumph over West Indies in the 1996 Cricket World Cup. He was one of the team’s top players. In response to allegations of match-fixing, the ICC looked into Odumbe in 2004 and concluded that he had accepted bribes. As a result, he has been prohibited for five years.
Despite the fact that many people believed the ban would put an end to his career, Odumbe declared he would recover from one of the worst match-fixing scandals in history. Odumbe started playing competitive domestic cricket in 2009.
10. IPL Fixing Scandal
A major league in a country where cricket is a religion is sure to be involved in one of the worst match-fixing scandals in the sport. Ajit Chandila, Ankeet Chavan, and S. Sreesanth, three cricket players with the Rajasthan Royals, were charged by the Delhi Police for their involvement in spot-fixing during the sixth Indian Premier League season.
23 other people, including bookmakers, actors, and co-owners including Vindu Dara Singh and Gurunath Meiyappan, were then the subject of police investigations for gambling and other criminal activities. They were also charged with having ties to Chhota Shakeel and Dawood Ibrahim, two notorious underworld figures, by the police.
The lack of supporting evidence and cooperation between the police departments led to the release of several individuals, including Sreesanth and Chavan.
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