Back in December 2000, former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin was handed a life ban for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing claims, which was later turned into a 12-year ban. But even after so many years he does not know as to why he was banned in the first place. Talking to an overseas website, Azharuddin said, “I don’t want to blame anyone for what happened. I really don’t know the reasons for banning me. But I had decided to fight it and I am grateful that after 12 years I got cleared. I felt very satisfied when after being elected president of Hyderabad association I went and attended the BCCI AGM meeting.” After his ban was lifted in 2012, he was honored on quite a few occasions by BCCI.
In 2019, he had a stand named after him at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. He rang the bell at the Eden Gardens ahead of an India match in 2018. He was also honored with a lap of honor in Eden Gardens last year during the pink ball match along with his fellow cricketers. “I am a firm believer in fate and whatever is in your destiny it happens. I look at this way that nowadays if a player is a class act he ends up playing more than 100 Tests. So I don’t think this record of 99 Test matches that I hold is going to be broken,” Azharuddin said.
