5 Most Popular Match-Fixing Controversy In Cricket History

Popular Match-Fixing Controversy In Cricket History: The game of cricket is considered to be a game of harmony and peace. It is very much liked in India including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, England, and some other western countries. 

In cricket, it is very important for a player to always be honest in his game and have sportsmanship inside him. But, some players in cricket history have done the work of embarrassing cricket by fixing matches.

In today’s article, we are going to tell you about the 5 Most Popular Match-Fixing Controversy In Cricket History.

However, rules have also been made by the ICC and the cricket boards of different countries to prevent fixing, so that the player can be punished for any type of fixing or anti-sportsmanship in the match. 

The ICC can punish up to a lifetime ban for activities such as match-fixing, spot-fixing, sharing match inside information, and betting on cricket.

But still many controversies of match-fixing have come to the fore in cricket history and many players have been banned for a few years and many have been banned for life.

5 Most Popular Match-Fixing Controversy In Cricket History

Here, below we are going to tell you about the 5 most famous match-fixing controversies in cricket history.

1. Pakistan Cricket Spot-Fixing Controversy (2010):

The Pakistan cricket spot-fixing scandal took place in August 2010 during a Test match between England and Pakistan at Lord’s. In this match, some Pakistani players had taken money from a bookie named Mazhar Majeed to bowl no balls at a predetermined time in the match.

In this, the names of Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, and the then-captain Captain Salman Butt came to the fore. Mohammad Amir was banned for 5 years, Mohammad Asif for 7 years and Salman Butt for 10 years.

2. Azharuddin Match-Fixing Controversy:

In Indian cricket history, Azharuddin’s match-fixing controversy shocked the entire cricket world. The investigation revealed that Azharuddin had fixed Pepsi Cup matches against South Africa in 1996, Sri Lanka in 1997 and Pakistan in 1999.

After this BCCI imposed a lifetime ban on him in 2000. However, he denied match-fixing while giving clarification from his side and the Andhra Pradesh High Court lifted the ban on him in 2012.

3. Hansie Cronje Match-Fixing Controversy:

In 2000, the Delhi Police intercepted a call in which Hansie Cronje was talking to an Indian bookie Sanjeev Chawla about this match. It was from here that for the first time, match-fixing was exposed in India and in the cricket world.

A few days after the arrival of this news, when the South African investigative agencies interrogated Hansi Cronje continuously for two-three days, after that he accepted the fixing and he also named some Indian players including some bookies. He died in a plane crash in 2002.

4. IPL Match-Fixing Controversies:

For the first time in 2013, the spot-fixing case came to the fore in IPL in which the names of S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila, and Ankeet Chavan surfaced. Along with this, the allegations of betting against Chennai Super Kings team owner Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals team owner Raj Kundra were proven.

After this, both the teams were banned for 2 years, while both the owners and all three players were banned for life by the BCCI. Although Sreesanth was given a clean chit by the Delhi High Court in 2015, he has since been playing domestic cricket for Kerala.

5. Salim Malik Match-Fixing Controversy:

In 1994–95, Australian cricketers Shane Warne and Mark Waugh were accused of contacting bookies to give them insider information on matches.

After these allegations, Shane Warne took the name of then-Pakistan captain Salim Malik and accused him of giving bribes to lose the match. After this, it was proven right in the investigation and Salim Malik was banned for life.

Shane Warne later told in his documentary that before the last match of the 1994 Pakistan vs Australia Test series, Malik had offered him 1 lakh 45 thousand pounds (about Rs 1.5 crore).

However, he had also told that Salim was afraid of burning his house in Pakistan and being killed if he was defeated. This was the first fixing controversy in Pakistan cricket.

sachin-csbe