Cricket is a gentlemen's sport. And, as for the gentlemen, they are known to be tender and clean, free from any wrongdoings. However, when it comes to cricket, not every time these men are gentle in every aspect.
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Be it any sport, it is said that playing it in the right spirit, without implementing any process to gain undue advantage, is the primary characteristic of any sportsperson. Yet, there have been numerous instances of cricketers trying to cheat their way through.
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From grabbing dropped catches to deliberately bowling illegal deliveries, some cricketers consider it a quality to cheat. Nonetheless, we take a look at five leading international cricketers who are known to have cheated or at least attempted to have cheated on the field.
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Ricky Ponting: The Australian skipper might have been one of the most successful ones in world cricket. However, he was notorious for using unfair means on the field. During a match, he tried to clip the bails with his hands at the end of the over and went on to appeal for a hit-wicket. Too bad for him, the cameras caught him. Also during an instance against India, he grabbed a catch after the ball had bounced off the ground. Interestingly, he stood his ground that the catch was clean and asked the umpire to declare it out, despite cameras showing otherwise.
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Ahmed Shehzad: The famous Pakistani batsman is quite poor at fielding, as he tends to drop dolly catches. In 2015, during a match against Sri Lanka, he had dropped the catch but went on to grab it and tell the umpires that he had collected it. Nonetheless, the reviews left him red-faced. Also, during a domestic game last year, he did the same. This time, if the dropped catch was not enough, he went for a DRS review of the same, where the verdict did not change. What does he even think?
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Mohammad Amir: In what could be considered one of the shocking cricketing betrayals, Pakistani pacer Mohammad Amir bowled no-balls at specific points of a Test against England, in 2010. Later it was revealed by an English daily that he, along with Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt, had taken bribes for bowling the no-balls, which was referred to as spot-fixing. Shocked by the incident, he, along with the two others, was banned by both International Cricket Council (ICC) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Nonetheless, he made his return in 2016.
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Dennis Lillee: It was during 1979 Ashes Test in Perth, Australian pacer Dennis Lillee was seen scoring with the bat. It was later revealed that he was using an aluminium bat. Following a complaint from English skipper Mike Brearley, the umpires asked Lillee to change his bat. However, the latter was adamant, as there were no such rules on bats back then. The bat was reported to have been ruining the ball. Although it technically wasn't cheating back then, it was against the spirit, before the laws were amended.
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MS Dhoni: Now, this might emerge as a shocking name on the list. The entire cricketing world knows the kind of player and performer Dhoni is, as he would hardly cheat. Nonetheless, it was in 2011, during a Test in England, when MS Dhoni had caught Kevin Pietersen out. However, replays did show that he had not taken a clean catch, as the ball bounced off the ground before being collected. Whether or not Dhoni was aware of it during the moment is not clear, but that certainly wasn't a legit dismissal.
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