4 Cricketers you didn't know were once involved in corruption.

Cricket is a religion in many countries, especially the South Asian cricketing countries. Being a part of 11 players on the field is a great achievement, owing to the hard work they had put in. Some cricketers find match-fixing as a way to earn more money in a short time. It all started in 2000 when Hansie Cronje, then South Africa captain had admitted to having taken money to fix matches. The first Indian victim was the legendary batsman Mohammad Azharuddin.

Since then a new phenomenon called spot-fixing is introduced in the cricket which means to determine the outcome of a specific part of a match or game before it is played. Many incidents of spot-fixing came into the limelight since the 20th century. Sharjeel Khan is the latest entrant to the fixing scandal as he was involved in spot-fixing in the Pakistan Cricket League.

IPL 2013 shocked everyone, a few of the Indian players including Sreesanth, Ankit Chavan, and Ajit Chandila were reportedly involved in the spot-fixing scandal. The Gentlemen's game has been spoiled in the recent times with many cricketers connected with fixing directly or indirectly. Let us look at a few players who were allegedly involved in cricket corruption.

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#4 Lonwabo Tsotsobe (South Africa)

The South African pacer who made his international debut against South Africa in 2009 has represented South Africa in 89 games. Tsotsobe made his domestic debut in 2004-05 scalping 16 wickets at an average of 17.75. He first made an impact in the next domestic season scalping 49 wickets and thus attracting selectors. Tsotsobe earned his maiden national call to the South African side in 2008 after his consistent domestic performances.

In the 61 ODI games he played, he picked up 94 wickets at an impressive average of 24.97. He played only 5 test games, before he lost his place to Vernon Philander. He was later involved in the match-fixing during 2015/16 Ram Slam league. South Africa's anti-corruption unit formally charged Tsotsobe an 8-year ban following the scandal. Tsotsobe was part of Highveld Lions during the scandal and has not played any cricket games since then.

#3 Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh)

The Bangladeshi batsman who made his International debut against Sri Lanka in 2001 has represented Bangladesh in over 250 games. He announced his arrival on the International circuit by scoring a century against Sri Lanka, becoming the youngest player to score a test century. Bangladesh dropped him in 2003, but Ashraful eventually made a comeback in 2004 scoring 158 against India at Chittagong. Owing to his performances, Bangladesh appointed him as the captain in 2007. Then he was only 22, and it meant a lot of burden for him.

Mohammad Ashraful was involved in the spot-fixing controversy in 2013 while playing for Dhaka Gladiators in the Bangladesh Premier League. The BCB handed over an 8-year ban to the former Bangladesh skipper and later trimmed it down to five years with a 2-year suspension. Ashraful reportedly took USD 12,800 to lose a match against Chittagong Kings in the season 2 of BPL.

#2 Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa)

The South African batsman who made his international debut against Kenya in 1996 has represented South Africa in 361 games. He scored 21 centuries in his 248 ODI games. Gibbs scored 8094 ODI runs which are the second highest runs by a South African in ODIs. Gibbs scored 175 off 111 balls against Australia chasing 434. Herschelle Gibbs was also a part of Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League.

Herschelle Gibbs was involved in the match-fixing along with Hansie Cronje against India. Gibbs reportedly took USD. 15,000 to score less than 20 runs against India. Owing to match-fixing, Cricket South Africa suspended him for six months.

#1 Marlon Samuels (West Indies)

The dashing all-rounder who made his international debut against Sri Lanka in 2000 has represented West Indies in 335 games. Samuels has scored nearly 11000 international runs for West Indies. He was also a part of Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors India in the Indian Premier League. His heroics with the bat helped West Indies win their first ICC T20 world cup. Samuels has also scalped 148 wickets in his international career.

Indian police alleged that Samuels provided information for the bookies. ICC found him guilty and handed him a ban of two years. This ban was just two years and he later made a comeback to the national squad and played a key role in West Indies winning the World T20 twice, in 2012 and 2016. This incident happened in 2007, but Samuels was a part of the 2007 World cup squad as the investigations were going on.