Confessed to IPL spot fixing to escape police torture: S Sreesanth

When S Sreesanth made his international debut, he was touted as the next big thing in international cricket. Later, he also went on to become part of two World Cup-winning squads in 2007 and 2011 respectively. However, 2013 turned out to be a cursed one for the speedster as the 35-year-old was found guilty, representing Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

He, along with Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila was banned for life by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The pacer hasn’t played any competitive match ever since and his international career is all but over. Recently, he told the Supreme Court that he had initially confessed about his alleged involvement in the spot-fixing scandal to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police.

More travails for S Sreesanth

He said so in order to avoid continuous police torture as per reports in Business Standard. He told a bench of Justice K.M Joseph and Ashok Bhushan that a bookie tried to drag him in the spot-fixing, but he didn’t fall for it. To clarify his words, Sreesanth’s lawyer also read out the Malayalam transcript of the alleged telephonic conversation the tainted cricketer had with a bookie.

The court also sought BCCI’s response on the matter and some documents relied upon by the former cricketer. Senior Counsel Salman Khurshid, appearing for Sreesanth, told the bench that too much was being read into the matter. He admitted that Sreesanth was indeed using a towel during the match, but he also remarked that every other cricketer uses towels.

Meanwhile, the court said that Sreesanth’s conduct was bad as he didn’t inform the apex cricket board about the grave matter. Earlier, Sreesanth moved to the top court after the Kerala High Court upheld the life-ban on him by the BCCI. On May 15 last year, the cricketer also asked for a relaxation of the ban and allow him to play county cricket in England, but that wasn’t the case.

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