7 sports stars you didn't know had criminal records

Players of FC Barcelona are not always in the news for their heroics on field, and Javier Mascherano is the latest in line to be in the limelight for the wrong reasons. Reports emerging out of Spain confirmed that Mascherano had confessed to avoiding taxes amounting to nearly €1.5 million, making him the latest in a list of people that includes Lionel Messi and Neymar. Back home, leggie Amit Mishra was arrested and thereafter released on charges of assaulting a woman, which has led to a lot of speculation in the media regarding his place in the Indian team ahead of the test series against South Africa.While pundits and fans usually dissect every step of these cases, here is a list of 7 sports stars who you didn’t know were involved in crimes!

#1 Makhaya Ntini

Makhaya Ntini is one of South Africa’s best fast bowlers and was notably the first black player to ever represent the country. He has almost 400 Test wickets to his name and 266 wickets in ODIs, and has had an illustrious career including a good spell with Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.

However, most people do not know that his career was nearly derailed when he was convicted of raping his neighbour in a stadium toilet in East London in 1999. Consequently, he was sentenced to 6 years in jail and was dropped from the World Cup squad.

However, on appealing the decision, he was acquitted of all charges and spent 20 months in the wilderness before being recalled to the national team, where he finally retired in 2011.