In today’s world being a celebrity is not easy. You get all the attention and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. For cricketers, it becomes even more difficult to have a personal life. Even though it is not like they absolutely can’t have one.

However, some cricketers have got into trouble after some of their personal chats were leaked online. Some cricketers have been exposed by the public on how they conduct themselves off the field. Few cricketers’ career has also been in trouble due to the same.

Here we bring you three cricketers who were in trouble after their online chats were leaked:

1. Mohammed Shami

Mohammad Shami recently revealed that between 2017 and 2018, he went through a very rough time. He even said that he wanted to kill himself during this phase. However, he recovered from that mental stress and revived his international career as a leading fast bowler of the Indian side.

In 2018, Shami was still married to Hasin Jahan. However, the pacer’s wife put allegation against him of having extra-marital affairs. To prove her case to the police and media, Hasin released several screenshots of his alleged conversations with other women. She also accused him of domestic violence, attempted murder, rape and adultery.

This tarnished the Bengal’s pacer image in the media. The Board for Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) withheld Shami’s annual contract when all the allegations emerged. His wife had also alleged that Shami was involved in match-fixing. Later on, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of BCCI cleared him of any such allegation.

As of 2020, the couple is separated but the divorce was really a difficult process. On the other side of this entire fiasco, the 29-year-old pacer found a different rhythm of his own. In the 12 months, Shami has been really successful with the ball and emerged as one of the leaders of the pace attack.

2. Alex Hepburn

Alex Hepburn was an Australian boy who moved to England at the age of 17 to pursue a career in cricket. He landed himself a contract with Worcestershire County Cricket Club and planned to have a bright future. However, his world fell upside down when rape charges were pressed against him. In November 2017, he was charged with two counts of rape.

However, by the time the trial took place in 2019, he was cleared off with one of them. He was accused to have committed rape on one girl who was at his flat and was with his then-teammate, Joe Clarke. While all this was going on, there are some chats of the young player which were leaked online. In those chats, it was seen that Hepburn was bragging about the number of women he had slept with.

He also admitted having taken part in a s*x game which led him to have se*ual activities with 20 women. Other than this, a leaked screenshot also revealed that he was part of a WhatsApp group where women were rated by men. Hepburn admitted to all this during the trial. On 30 April 2019, Hepburn was sentenced to five years in prison. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for life.

3. Imam-ul-Haq

In 2019, Imam-ul-Haq landed into a huge controversy. After the World Cup, once Imam returned to Pakistan, he would have hoped everything was going to be alright but some girls released screenshots of their chats with the Pakistan opening batsman online. Through Twitter and Instagram, many girls from Pakistan came up and alleged Imam for using his stardom to exploit them.

He was accused of cheating on a lot of women at the same time. All the girls accused him of having a relationship with them and later refusing to stay true to it. Many called him a se*ual predator of sorts. The leaked screenshots proved that Imam was trying to use his stardom as a way to get on with them. However, the girls revealed all the chats on social media which sort of tarnished the 23-year-old’s image.

Eventually, a week after the incident unfolded on social media, the Pakistan batsman came up and apologised. No action was taken on him by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), but he was let off with a warning.