A decade ago, cricket lost one of its most influential players – Hansie Cronje. Although he was known for his brilliant captaincy and game, he did become a victim of a match-fixing scandal.
Today even after 11 years to the death of the former South African cricket “Hansie Cronje” cricket is still in a Fix.
Hansie Cronje (25 September 1969 – 1 June 2002) was a South African cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s.He was voted the 11th greatest South African in 2004 despite having been banned for life from professional cricket for his role in a match-fixing scandal.
Cronje was killed in a air crash on june 1st 2002 .Years after he became the biggest name in a match fixing scandal that rocked the game to such an extent, that it never fully recovered from the blows it suffered then.
On 7th April 2000, Delhi police revealed they had a recording of a conversation between Cronje and Sanjay Chawla, a representative of an Indian betting syndicate, over match-fixing allegations.Three other players, Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje, and Pieter Strydom, were also implicated. After an enquiry by the King Commission, Cronje was banned from playing or coaching cricket for life.He challenged his life ban in September 2001 but his application was dismissed.
Today as the Indian Premier League (IPL) is tangled in spot fixing scandals and the trust deficit of the cricket fan seems to be increasing, one can safely say that administrators and players have learnt little post the Cronje scandal.
Decades after Soutn Africas poster boy captain fell from the pedestal, cricket is still not clean. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has set up an anti-corruption unit and there have been some attempts to clean up but nothing seems great and the dirty matching fxinging still continues even the bookies have multiplied.
All previous warnings and predictions about cleaning up cricket have gone in vain and the ghosts are haunting the game again . Cronjes soul certainly does not Rest in Peace now. As for cricket, it is those who fail to learn from history, are bound to repeat it.
