BCCI: Life Ban on Sreesanth to Stay
On Sunday, the BCCI upheld the life ban on former Indian fast bowler S. Sreesanth, smashing his hopes of a comeback. Sreesanth was hit with a life ban from cricket in 2013 in a match-fixing case and even had to subsequently spend time in Delhiās Tihar jail for his involvement.
Sreesanth had submitted a review petition seeking the life ban on him to be lifted in view of him being exonerated of the match-fixing allegations against him. However, the BCCIās letter, sent by CEO Rahul Johri, says that the BCCI is very particular about maintaining discipline and there is nothing new to change the September 2013 charge which imposed a life ban on Sreesanth.
The letter has also revealed that the decision pertaining to Sreesanth was taken by a committee that had, as members, BCCI Vice President T.C. Mathew, who was Kerala Cricket Association President, and KCA secretary T.N. Ananthanarayanan.
In 2013, the BCCI Disciplinary Committee, headed by present Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, had slapped a life ban on Sreesanth. Prior to the ban, Sreesanth had picked up 87 wickets in 27 Test matches, and 75 scalps from 53 ODIās along with 7 wickets from 10 T20Is. Ā Ā
The now 34-year old Sreesanth along with two other players were exonerated by the Delhi court in 2015. The case registered by the Delhi Police also invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Ā
Following the Delhi court's exoneration, Sreesanth approached the Kerala High Court in March this year, with a petition seeking the upliftment of the life-ban imposed by the BCCI. However, the court asked him to file a review petition before the BCCI.
The life-ban also implies that Sreesanth can neither play league cricket nor get access to practice at any of the cricket grounds where the BCCI or the state cricket associations have a stake. Ā