NEW DELHI, Jan 24: Former Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor on Monday said that he is facing a multi-year ban from the ICC for failing to report a corrupt approach by an Indian businessman and also claimed that he was blackmailed after “foolishly” taking cocaine during that meeting.
In a detailed confession on social media, Taylor claimed that he was invited by the businessman to India to discuss “sponsorships” and potential launch of a T20 event in Zimbabwe besides an offer of USD 15,000 in October, 2019.
He did not name the businessman in question.
“We had drinks and during the course of the evening they openly offered me cocaine, which they themselves engaged in, and I foolishly took the bait,” Taylor wrote.
“The following morning, the same men stormed into my hotel room and showed me a video taken of me the night before doing cocaine and told me that if I did not spot fix at international matches for them, the video would be released to the public.
The 35-year-old, who played 205 ODIs, 34 Tests and 45 T20s before retiring last year, now expects the ICC to ban him for not reporting the incident back then.
The game’s governing body is yet to comment on the matter.
“…the timing was such that we hadn’t been paid for 6 months by Zimbabwe cricket and it was questionable whether Zimbabwe would be able to continue playing in the international arena,” he said while trying to give his reasons for accepting the offer.
The Harare-born cricket said he was blackmailed “post dinner and drinks”.
BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit chief Shabir Hussein Shekhadam Khandwawala said, “if the incident happened in India, we would like to know the details and if he has spoken to the ICC, we will seek the details from the global body.
Taylor said he was also given a part payment to spot fix matches.
Taylor decided to report the incident to the ICC four months later and said he delayed it to protect his family.
Taylor insisted that he has never been involved in any wrongdoing on the field. (PTI)
