Nehra and Donald inspire Sreesanth for ‘final’ hurrah
Fast bowler S Sreesanth 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 wanted to play and put the past behind him.
Citing the example of fast bowler Ashish Nehra, 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,” Sreesanth was quoted as saying in an interview to Wisden India.
“I am willing to put everything 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 want to be happy. Is that too much to ask?”
Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, 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 by a Delhi court but the BCCI 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 Sreesanth’s omission was “a denial of natural justice” and set aside the life ban. Sreesanth 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’s alleged Janardhan dealt with other bookies for Sreesanth.
“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 Dharmasena (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 a no-objection certificate when he wanted to represent Glenrothes Cricket Club in the Scottish League.