NO BALL: THE MURKY WORLD OF MATCH FIXING
Whispers, and then some progressively loud murmurs! Match fixing and illegal betting had begun to pervade the cricketing world. In 2000, when the much respected South African skipper, Hansie Cronje, was found guilty of match fixing soon after a trail of stars fell after the another. Prominent cricketers from India, South Africa, Kenya, England, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Pakistan, came out as fixers over the next decade. Life bans were handed out like sixes on no balls. The scandal really hit home in 2013, when spot-fixing allegations in the Indian Premier League resulted in the ouster of Indian and Rajasthan Royals bowler Sreesanth, along with two other players. This incident threw open the murky underworld connection, quite literally in Indian cricket.