• March 16, 2019

SC revokes life ban on Sreesanth, asks BCCI to take fresh decision

Thiruvananthapuram March 16 : The Supreme Court has set aside the life ban imposed by the Board of Control of Cricket in India on him for the spot fixing during 2013 Indian premier League.

The court also asked BCCI to reconsider former Indian cricketer S Sreesanth’s plea within three months .
However, the Court has not disturbed the findings of guilt made by the disciplinary committee against the cricketer.
However, a single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court had lifted the life ban by BCCI, but a division bench of the high court had restored it. Sreesanth then challenged the division bench’s decision in the Supreme Court.
S Sreesanth looked at his optimistic best after the Supreme Court relieved him from the life ban imposed by the Board of Control For Cricket in India (BCCI) for his alleged involvement in the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal.
The 36-year-old pacer, in an interview to PTI, compared himself Indian tennis ace Leander Paes saying, “If Leander Paes can win Grand Slams at 42, I can at least play some cricket at 36.”
Sreesanth, along with Mumbai spinner Ankit Chavan and Haryana’s Ajit Chandila, were suspended for life by a BCCI disciplinary committee in 2013, a decision that the player had challenged in court.
Speaking to PTI after a favourable verdict by the apex court on Friday, a relieved Sreesanth said: “I don’t know what life has in store for me after all these years. Its six years and I haven’t played cricket, which was my life.
“I hope that the BCCI respects the verdict of the country’s highest court and allows me to at least get back to the cricket field. I hope that at least now I can walk to a school cricket ground and train there without being told that I am not allowed.
I just want to play whatever cricket I can,” said Sreesanth, who has been a part of the 2007 World T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup winning squads.
But age is not something that he feels will be a factor in trying to make a comeback to competitive cricket.
Sreesanth has represented his national team in 27 Tests, 53 ODIs and 10 T20Is, respectively.