Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
After almost Former Indian speedster S Sreesanth has finally spoken on the 2013 spot-fixing saga in the Indian Premier League (IPL), due to which he and a couple of Rajasthan Royals players were banned. The 38-year-old Sreesanth has opened that why would he do something like that for 10 lakhs as he had similar amount of bills in parties itself. Sreesanth also stated that he was looking to make a comeback in the Indian team, following injuries.
Sreesanth along with Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were arrested after charges were placed in 2013. Sreesanth was banned for life-time but his ban got reduced to seven years by the BCCI ombudsman DK Jain in 2019. The pacer has seen some worst days and has spoken about the details of the alleged spot-fixing on Sportskeeda.
This is the first interview in which I am sharing or explaining it: Sreesanth
The former Indian cricketer S Sreesanth on Sportskeeda opened up on the alleged spot-fixing. “This is the first interview in which I am sharing or explaining it. It was supposed to be one over and 14-plus runs. I bowled four balls for five runs. No no-ball, no wide and not a single slower ball in an IPL game. I was bowling at 130-plus after 12 surgeries on my toe,” Sreesanth said.
He added that he was looking to make a comeback in the Indian team after injury and was looking forward to the Proteas series. “I had played the Irani Trophy and was looking to play the South African series, so that we can win in September 2013. We were going early, and it moves better in September. My goal was to play that series,” Sreesanth said.
Why would I do it for 10 lakhs? - Sreesanth
The Kerala-born Sreesanth also stated that why he would do the spot-fixing for 10 lakhs as he had similar amount of bills of his parties only. “A person like that, why would I do it, that too for 10 lakhs?, I am not talking big but I used to have bills of around 2 lakh when I partied around,” Sreesanth said.
He added that he used to pay with card and not cash and stated that if he would have had so much of cash, he would have been spraying it out. “I used to take care of even a normal person,” Sreesanth said.
The former Indian cricketer, who won ODI World Cup in 2011, said in the same interview that he would not want to name the other accused cricketers until they are proven guilty as he doesn't want them to suffer from what he went through. “I don’t want to name any other cricketers...if people call me and ask me: ‘There were 13 other names which was in High court and Supreme Court, what happened to them?’... All I can say is me, my family, my friend circle and my dear ones went through the toughest…closer to that was death, Maut ke barabar tha that experience. Until it is proven, I will not name the other 13 accused because what happened with me and my friends (was very tough),” Sreesanth said.
After his ban was lifted in 2020, Sreesanth returned to competitive cricket earlier this year in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.