Dirk Nannes slams Azharuddin's appearance at IPL show
Mohammad Azharuddin is one of the most controversial characters in the world of cricket. The former captain of the Indian cricket team recently appeared on a cricket show during IPL to promote his biopic Azhar. After the show was aired Australian pacer Dirk Nannes took on Twitter to express his disappointment to see an alleged match-fixer on a cricket show.
The Victoria-born left-arm fast bowler tweeted.
Why is a confessed match fixer welcomed on a cricket show and treated like royalty? How is that even possible?
— Dirk Nannes (@dirk_nannes) May 11, 2016
Azharuddin is regarded as one of the most successful captains of the Indian cricket team but was implicated in a match-fixing scandal in 2000 and was subsequently banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for life.
Former South African captain Hansie Cronje, who confessed that he took part in match-fixing, he also indicated that Azharuddin was the one to introduce him to the bookies. The 53-year-old right-handed batsman was found guilty of match-fixing and handed a lifelong ban by both ICC and BCCI.
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However, in 2012, a Divisional bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed the ban imposed upon him. Azharuddin represented India in 99 Test matches and 334 ODIs. He has more than 15,000 international runs under his belt along with 29 centuries.
The stylish right-handed batsman has scored 6215 runs in Test matches at an average of 45.03 and also scored 9378 runs in ODIs at an average of 36.92. He also won 14 Test matches and 90 ODIs as the captain of the Indian cricket team.
Nannes is among the few cricketers who played international cricket for more than one country. In 2009, he made his international debut for the Netherlands against England in a T20I and he also represented Australia in both T20Is and in a single ODI. He played his last international match in 2010.
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The left-arm pacer previously played in the IPL for Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore and the now suspended Chennai Super Kings. He then went on to retweet two articles to prove the fact that Azharuddin had confessed and the ban was declared illegal rather than him being found innocent.
Mohammad Azharuddin’s biopic “Azhar” is scheduled for a worldwide release on 13 May 2016.