This is one of the most unfortunate incidents that has ever taken place in the sport of cricket at least in the last 30 years and till today people talk about it and is it was not right of such a big player at that time to do something like this and this left a sour taste in the mouth of all cricket fans and it took a few years before that trust was regained again.
In this article I will try to tell our readers how this whole thing happened and what happened after it all happened. I hope no cricket player irrespective of the level they are playing in does a thing like this. Winning and losing a match fairly is much better than doing these kinds of things. So, let’s see what took place
The Start
It all started in January of 1995 when Hansie Cronje was offered $10,000 to fix an ODI match vs Pakistan but he refused the offer that time but a year later his mind changed. Then in 1996 before a test match vs India former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin introduced him to Mukesh Gupta. MK offered Hansie Cronje $30,000 at that time which was a lot to have the South African team lose all the wickets in the last day and lose the test match and Hansie thought that he is doing nothing wrong as South Africa were going to lose that match and he was getting to make a lot of money from it
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It got deeper
Then we came to an ODI match which had no consequence and again he was offered $250,000 that is in crores to fix that match. Hansie took the offer to his teammates and firstly they rejected it but later a few players from South Africa were curious if the offer could be raised. This was a red flag and it showed the hold that Hansie Cronje had on his players. Hansie Cronje thought that his clear reputation outside will make sure nobody knew about this.
It Got Worse
India toured South Africa and MK went along and again he offered $50,000 to him about the team selection for the first test and the declaration score for the second test. However, when ML offered $300,000 to lose the 3rd test match Hansie Cronje rejected that offer. Hansie Cronje ‘s teammates and family said that he got a lot of money and never used to spend it and he bought presents like they were nothing and he used to give money to his team as well.
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Endgame and downfall
After the England tour Hansie Cronje returned and he was showered with gifts which included a mobile phone and he did not know that some of his calls were being recorded. Another dead rubber meant another chance for fixing the match and once bookie Sanjay Chawla said to fix the match Hansie Cronje agreed to it and he even have $15,009 to Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams and both agreed to underperform. And finally on 7th April 2000 Hansie Cronje was charged by the Delhi Police for match fixing and after that his more black deeds became public
The lesson for everyone is to play the game fair and win and lose the match in a competitive manner but to never go down this route because people forgive losses in a fair way and the celebrations for a fair win are the best. I am happy to see that after 2013, the sport of cricket has remained fixing free and I hope it stays that way.
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