S Sreesanth recently returned to the field of Cricket after a ban of seven years. However, he couldn’t get himself into the list of cricketers who will be moving forward with the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction.
Sreesanth Failed To Get The Franchises
S Sreesanth got a lot of buzz when he returned to the Cricket world by playing at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He then registered himself for the IPL auction in the hopes of getting attention from the franchises.
Sreesanth put a price of Rs 75 lakhs for himself at the IPL auction. But he failed to get any heed from the franchises. As per the latest reports, the officials reportedly spoke about not including S Sreesanth in the auction list.
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Even though Sreesanth couldn’t make it to the IPL Auction list, some of his other teammates did. This includes Mohammed Azharuddeen and Sachin Baby who would be going under the hammer.
Why Was Sreesanth Banned?
The Indian Cricketer S Sreesanth was part of India’s two World Cup winnings; T20 World 2007 and 50-over World Cup 2011.He was also a part of the Indian Test team which received high rankings in the year 2009. Over the years, he had given several winning performances in his career and was a fan-favourite.
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However, in 2013, he was arrested in the IPL 2013 spot-fixing scandal. The Board of Control for Cricket in India banned Sreesanth on the charges of spot fixing for a lifetime. His ban was later reduced to seven years.
In 2013, Sreesanth was arrested by the Delhi Police along with his teammates from Rajasthan Royals; Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan. He was accused of spot-fixing in the seventh season of IPL. However, he was relieved of the charges because the police lacked evidence. But the BCCI refused to lift the ban following which he wasn’t allowed to take part in any kind of competitive cricket.
Then Sreesanth challenged BCCI’s decision in the higher courts but in vain. The BCCI told the apex courts in February 2019 that the ban of Sreesanth was completely in law as he reportedly tried to fix a match. But the cricketer’s lawyer argued that there was no evidence of the same.
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In April last year, a bench of justices Ashok Bhusha and KM Joseph reported that the BCCI Ombudsman DK Jain would be willing to reconsider Sreesanth’s punishment for alleged spot-fixing within three months. Then on August 7, 2020, the ban was reduced to seven years. The Sreesanth ban was then completely lifted on September 13, 2020.
What is Spot Fixing?
Spot fixing means to decide the number of runs a batsman will make or making a single delivery or an over. It is different from match-fixing as it is focused on a batsman’s runs or a bowler’s activities or even having an exact amount of no-balls planned before the match. It a pre-planned mutually agreed strategy between a player and a bookmaker. In this the player gets benefits from the bookmaker in cash or kind.
