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Since the advent of coloured jerseys, day-night matches, and the white ball in the world of one-day international cricket, many things have changed. The glamourization of the game has raked in new viewers and even attracted newer countries to start playing the ‘gentleman’s sport’.
With the apparent glamourization of the game, one of the oldest gentlemen’s sports has also attracted a lot of unwanted controversies and scandals over the last three decades.
After Muttiah Murlidharan was repeatedly reprimanded by the authorities for his unusual bowling action, bigger controversies in match-fixing involving Australian greats Shane Warne and Mark Waugh came to light in 1998.
The whole world was shocked when the news broke out about the biggest match-fixing scandal in 2000 involving Pakistan’s Saleem Malik and Ata-ur-Rehman, South Africa’s former skipper Hansie Cronje, Herschelle Gibbs, and Henry Williams, and India’s former skipper Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar, and Ajay Sharma.
Here, we will look at the quintet of the biggest scandals that rocked the cricketing world in the 21st century and discuss their aftermath as well.
#5 Shane Warne caught using drugs
Shane Warne was by no means a ‘dull figure’ in the cricketing world as he was involved in multiple controversies throughout the career, including accusations of leaking information to a bookie to smoking to some extra-marital affairs.
But the drugs scandal in 2003 ruined the perfect farewell of Warne as he had to leave the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup and was banned from international cricket for 12 months. The leg-spinner tested positive for diuretics just before the start of the biggest event in limited-overs cricket and his spot as the lead spinner in the Australian squad was given to Brad Hogg.
Apparently, Warne took some tablets to get leaner and fitter for the World Cup, but the said medicines contained the same chemicals that serve as masking agents for performance-enhancing drugs.
Although the legendary leg-spinner failed to win the ICC Cricket World Cup on more than one occasion, he mounted a brilliant comeback in international test cricket, taking 217 wickets in 38 matches before taking retirement from all forms of cricket.
#4 Monkey Gate Scandal
The 2008 tour of Australia brings back sour memories for almost every Indian cricket fan and for many of the players involved as well. During the Sydney test, a lot of questionable umpiring decisions paired with Australian captain Ricky Ponting urging his team to claim every contentious low catch angered the Indian skipper Anil Kumble who launched a scathing attack at the Australians, saying:
“Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game.”
During the test, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was accused of hurling racist slurs at Andrew Symonds by Ponting, and then the Australian skipper reported the matter to the match referee Mike Proctor. In a report filed by Proctor, it was revealed that Singh was levelling slurs at Symonds, which sounded like ‘Monkey’ to the Australian all-rounder.
Singh was slammed with a ban for three matches by the International Cricket Council, which was later revoked after an appeal hearing with the charges reduced to ‘use of abusive language’. Since then, the senior players of both teams have shared a frosty relationship and don’t see eye-to-eye about the multiple incidents in the infamous 2008 Sydney test.
#3 Coach found dead during the World Cup
On March 18, 2007, a dead body was found in a hotel room, and the walls were stained by vomit with blood frozen in the mouth of the said body. This death shocked the whole cricketing world as the body was of former England player and Pakistan head coach Bob Woolmer.
The cricket fraternity was in the midst of an ICC Cricket World Cup, and the winners of the 1992 edition of the tournament, Pakistan, were eliminated just five days after the commencement of the 6-week long tournament.
Many fans were suspecting it to be a suicide after the humiliation handed to Woolmer’s side by minnows Ireland, but many believed that it was a cold-blooded murder to stop the fixing scandal from coming out, while a few simply believed that it was a heart attack.
On March 24, it was claimed that Woolmer has been murdered by manual strangulation, but on June 12, it was announced that the head coach died of natural causes by the same investigative team calling it a moment of ‘professional embarrassment’.
Since then, an 11-member jury panel declared an open verdict claiming there are too many contradictions in the case to reach a clear conclusion on his death.
#2 Sandpaper Gate Scandal
Australians and controversies in cricket go hand in hand as the recent Sandpaper Gate scandal saw former skipper Steve Smith, opening batsman David Warner, and newcomer Cameron Bancroft get banned from international cricket for a period of up to a year.
In the 2018 tour of South Africa, the third test was being played in Cape Town, and on Day 3, the cameras caught Bancroft trying to roughen up one side of the ball using sandpaper to get the ball to swing as per the desires of the fielding team.
Later, it was revealed that vice-captain Warner hatched the whole plan and even taught Bancroft how to tamper with the ball whilst captain Steve Smith was found guilty of being in knowledge of the plan and failing to stop it from happening. Both senior players in Smith and Warner were banned from all forms of cricket for 12 months, whilst Bancroft was banned for nine months.
Steve Smith bounced back in fashion as he was the hero of the Australian win in the 2019 Ashes scoring 774 runs in seven innings at an average of 110.57. David Warner continued his crucial contributions in the limited-overs formats after failing to stage a Smith-esque comeback in the longest format of the game.
#1 Pakistan’s spot-fixing Scandal
In the 2010 tour of England, Pakistan was trailing 2-1 going into the final match of the test series scheduled at Lord’s stadium, often referred to as the ‘Home of Cricket’.
A sting operation on sports agent Mazhar Majeed just before the match revealed that Mohammad Amir would be bowling the third over of the English innings and would be overstepping on his first ball whilst Mohammad Asif would be bowling the 10th over and would overstep before his last ball of the over.
Both the fast bowlers overstepped by a mile at the pre-organized times, and the investigations found Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif, and Mohammed Amir guilty. They were sentenced to jail for 2.5 years, 1 year, and 6 months respectively.
Butt was banned from any form of recognized cricket for 7 years and made his comeback in Pakistan domestic cricket in 2016. The opening batsman broke several records in domestic cricket before calling an end to his playing career in 2020 to become a commentator. Likewise, Asif served a 7-year ban from all forms of cricket and made his return to domestic cricket in 2016.
On the other hand, Amir confessed early into the investigation and hence was sentenced to a shorter jail time and a reduced 5-year ban from all ICC-regulated cricket matches. After a return to domestic cricket in 2015, Amir was picked for the national team for the series against New Zealand in 2016.
The fast bowler was influential in winning the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy for Pakistan as his ‘dream’ spell of 3/16 rocked India’s innings, and Pakistan won the final by a grand margin of 180 runs. Amir also finished as Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup with 17 dismissals to his name before retiring from all formats of the game in December 2020.
