Former Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor took to Twitter on Monday (January 24) and did a horrific revelation. He went on to reveal that an Indian “businessman” tricked him into doping and blackmailed him later. The former skipper made a revelation that the fraud threatened him to do spot-fixing in international matches. This had a severe impact on the veteran’s physical and mental health and hence, he’s set to undergo rehabilitation on January 25 to get his life on the right track.
The incident dates took place in October 2019, when Zimbabwe players were witnessing the financial crisis as the national board failed to pay them fees. In fact, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had suspended Zimbabwe after Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) failed to eep out the government’s interference with the board’s administration. Hence, dark clouds were looming over the cricketers in the country.
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At the same time, an Indian “businessman” made an approach towards Brendan Taylor regarding sponsorships and the potential launch of a T20 competition in Zimbabwe. The cricketer was also given a sum of INR USD$15 000 when he visited India.
Explaining the same in his statement, Brendan Taylor said, “I can’t deny I was a little wary. But 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. So I made the journey. The discussions took place, as he had said, and on our last night in the hotel, the businessman and his colleagues took me for a celebratory dinner.”
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Brendan Taylor then revealed that the frauds made him consume drugs and pictured the whole incident to blackmail him later. He also stated, “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.”
Here is the video on one of the recent dismissals of Brendan Taylor:
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— Lakshya (@luckshyaaa) January 24, 2022
Brendan Taylor concluded, “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.”
To my family, friends and supporters. Here is my full statement. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/sVCckD4PMV
— Brendan Taylor (@BrendanTaylor86) January 24, 2022
Meanwhile, Brendan Taylor also mentioned that the ICC will soon be banning him for multiple years and he would accept it. He also urged the youngsters to learn from the story not fall in any such trap.
Brendan Taylor warned the youngsters saying, “I would like to place on record that I have never been involved in any form of match-fixing. I may be many things but I am not a cheat. My love for the beautiful game of cricket far outweighs and surpasses any threats which could be thrown my way.”
