Former Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor has admitted he took money from match-fixers who tried to blackmail him into manipulating games with a secret video of him using cocaine on a visit to India in 2019.

In a lengthy statement posted on Twitter, Taylor said that the International Cricket Council was about to impose a “multi-year ban” on him and he had decided to release his statement in advance of that.

Even though he took $US15,000 from the fixers, Taylor said he never fixed or manipulated games

The 35-year-old batsman retired from international cricket late last year.

To my family, friends and supporters. Here is my full statement. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/sVCckD4PMV

— Brendan Taylor (@BrendanTaylor86) January 24, 2022

Taylor said he was invited to India to discuss a sponsorship opportunity in October 2019.

At a dinner with businessmen, he was offered cocaine and “foolishly took the bait”.

“The following morning, the same men entered my hotel room to show me a video taken of me the night before doing cocaine and told me that if I did not partake in spot-fixing at international matches, the video would be released to the public,” Taylor said.

Taylor said he took the $US15,000 from the men, who said it was now a “deposit” for him to fix and they promised him another $20,000 once the fixing “job” was complete.

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