Nehra and Donald inspire Sreesanth’s ‘ final’ hurrah
COMEBACK TRAIL Former India pacer, who was cleared of spotfixing charges by court, says he will put the past behind him and focus on cricket
MUMBAI: S Sreesanth, who was accused of spot-fixing, admitted he was hurt by the BCCI’s decision to appeal against the Kerala High Court’s verdict to set aside the life ban imposed on him by the Board in 2013, stating he simply wanted to play cricket and put the past behind him.
Citing the example of fast bowl er As hi sh Ne hr a, who still represents the country in the shortest format of the game, Sreesanth said: “Nehra is my idol because at 37 he’ s doing better than when he started off. He’s like fine wine, getting better with age. I think I can be the same. I am willing to puteverything behind and focus on my cricket.
“I wish to follow my dreams and make my family proud. I do not want to keep reliving this. I need to make new memories and this (cricket) will help me do that. I have seen too much in life. I want to be happy. Is that too much to ask?” he added in an interview to Wisden India.
LIFTINGLIFEBAN
Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankee tC ha van, who played for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2013, were arrested by Delhi Police on charges of alleged spot-fixing. Sreesanth was acquitted two years later bya Delhi court but the BC CI did not lift the ban, stating it had enough proof that the bowler wasn’t innocent.
A few days back, the Kerala High Court ruled that Sreesant h’ s omission was“a denial of natural justice” and set aside the life ban.
Sreesanth, who pleaded innocence from the start, has stuck to his stand that he was being framed. “They said Jiju (Janardhan) apparently said I would either keep an arm band or towel or vermilion or something like that. I used to do all that because I love Allan Donald,” he said. It was alleged that Jan a rd han was the person who had dealt with other bookie son Sreesanth’s behalf.
“I have done that before too. I would even wear plenty of zinc oxide on my face, like Donald.
“Does that mean those matches were fixed too? Is it a crime to be superstitious? I believed that wearing those things would help me when I was going through a bad phase in my bowling.
In fact, in the first over I asked Kumar D harm a se na( the umpire) if it was okay if I kept a towel. Surely, the stump microphones picked that up. I did that only because it made me feel like Donald.
“Why would someone fix for ~10 lakh? If you’ re accusing me, say ~10 crore or something. Why would I jeopardise my career, my life for ~10 lakh?”
The BCCI had also denied Sreesanth ano-objection certificate earlier this year when he wanted to represent Glen roth es Cricket Club in the Scottish League.
Nehra is my idol because at 37 he’s doing better than when he started off. He’s like fine wine, getting better with age. I think I can be same. › On his comeback Jiju (Janardhan) said I would either keep an arm band or towel or vermilion. I used to do all that because I love Allan Donald. On arrested bookie’s claims
Why would someone fix for ~10 lakh? If you’re accusing me, say ~10 crore. Why would I jeopardise my career, my life for ~10 lakh. On spot-fixing allegations