Cricket’s Darkest Secret: From Hansie Cronje to the IPL Betting Empire 🚨 IPL didn’t just change cricket. It changed the money involved in the game. Before IPL, one of the biggest scandals came in 2000 when South African captain Hansie Cronje was caught in a match-fixing scandal involving bookmaker Sanjeev Chawla. Cronje admitted taking money from bookmakers and received a life ban. Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin was also banned over match-fixing allegations, but his ban was later overturned by the court. In the 1990s, betting networks were also linked in reports to Dawood Ibrahim’s underworld connections, especially during Sharjah tournaments. Then came IPL. In 2013, Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were arrested in a spot-fixing case. The controversy again raised questions about the connection between cricket, illegal betting and the underworld. But the problem did not end there. Illegal betting moved online through apps, WhatsApp, Telegram, bank accounts and offshore websites. Every IPL season, authorities investigate betting networks moving huge amounts of money. And here is the interesting part: illegal betting does not always need a player to fix a match. People can make money by betting on games, using inside information or running illegal betting operations. IPL made cricket bigger and richer than ever before. But it also created a massive market for people looking to make money illegally. The matches may look clean on the field, but the money moving behind the scenes remains a serious challenge.