On Independence Day former Indian speedster S. Sreesanth took to cricket field after a long time of 4 years, he led a team in an exhibition match here. The exhibition match was played at the ground where he first plied his career and got cheers by the crowd. Members from the two teams presented flowers to Sreesanth when he stepped on to the field. The pacer got a huge relief on August 7 when the Kerala High Court lifted the life ban imposed on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Sreesanth approached the court after BCCI did not revoke life ban though he was exonerated by Delhi High Court on charges of spot fixing scandal, which marred Indian Premier League Championship in 2013. Sreesanth had to cool his heels in Tihar Central Jail in Delhi in May 2013 in connection with the case. He was arrested by Delhi Police in Mumbai on May 17 that year along with former Rajasthan Royals teammates Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan.
The BCCI’s disciplinary committee, headed by present Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, had slapped a life-time ban on Sreesanth and Chavan on September 13, 2013. On Tuesday, Sreesanth led the Playback Singers XI who took on a team of the Producers XI. He opened the batting and had a good outing with the bat. Sreesanth said he is happy to return to the same ground where his career started.
Following the ban by the BCCI, he was not allowed entry to a cricket field in all levels of cricket besides even being prevented him from attending practice sessions. Even though Kerala High Court has lifted the ban, the BCCI has decided to appeal against the single bench verdict.
In 2015, the pacer, along with Chandila and Chavan, was exonerated by a Delhi court in the case registered by Delhi Police which invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) to try him.Sreesanth is the second Keralite to represent the Indian national cricket team. During his brief career, he has played in 27 Tests taking 87 wickets, and picked up 75 scalps from 53 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and seven wickets from 10 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).
@sreesanth36 Made my day ??thank u cheta ? doesn't Make sense y some people call him arrogant # Humble #FanBoyMoment ## jabra fan #Superfit pic.twitter.com/eZW73WupXF
— Nandu sunil (@nandu_sunil) August 15, 2017
