'You have to stand up for what you believe' - Chris Cairns on proving Lalit Modi's match-fixing allegations false

Former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns has opened up about the false match-fixing allegations levied against him by former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi. The all-rounder has also emphasized the fact that it may have taken some time to prove his innocence, however, he does not regret taking the matter to the court.

To note, the former IPL chairman Lalit Modi had referred to Cairns‘ alleged involvement in match-fixing as the reason for not letting him participate in the IPL 2010 auction. Modi had come up with a tweet stating the reason for Cairns’ removal from IPL auction as his involvement in match-fixing. As a result, Cairns took the matter to court and stated that the allegations threatened to reduce his cricketing achievements.

In 2012, the Kiwi all-rounder won the case against Modi and was also awarded $142,000. The court had also ordered Modi to pay a monetary penalty of $2.4 million. In 2016, the former IPL chairman decided to drop the suit against Cairns as he was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Lalit did his thing by firing that tweet: Cairns

Speaking on a podcast hosted by NZME, Chris Cairns said, “No, you have to stand up for what you believe. Lalit did his thing by firing that (tweet) off. He was the most influential name in the game of cricket and the unintended consequence of that set things in motion. If you had asked me that question in July of last year, I know there would be a different response.”

The former Kiwi all-rounder played cricket for New Zealand from 1989 to 2007 and was considered to be one of the best all-rounders going around at that time. Talking about Chris Cairns’ numbers in international cricket, the 51-year-old played 62 Tests and 215 ODIs for his country, amassing 3320 Test runs and picking 218 Test wickets, while in ODIs, he scored 4950 runs and picked 201 wickets for his country.

He also represented New Zealand in two T20Is. However, he could not do much in those matches as he scored just three runs with the bat and scalped one wicket. To note, Cairns never played the IPL in his cricketing career.