S Sreesanth suffered another setback in his prolonged battle to clear his name in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal after the Kerala High Court on Wednesday restored the life ban imposed on him by the Indian cricket board.
The World Cup and World T20-winning fast bowler was banned for life for his alleged involvement in the spot-fixing scandal that also resulted in a two-year suspension for owners of the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings franchises.
However, for the Kerala cricketer, life goes on, albeit in a different direction. There seems to be very little dip in his popularity as far as the Malayalee community is concerned and there was ample proof of it in Dubai where he was the ‘chief guest’ at the Pro Kerala League indoor cricket tournament.
The tournament is a revamped version of the Kerala Cricket League that was discontinued a couple of years ago and has been restarted by Rakesh Poduval and Manish Kishore with the help of sponsors like Lenovo and Danube.
The event launch saw around 300 people turn up at United Pro Sports in Al Qouz to catch a glimpse of Sreesanth. The fast bowler even agreed to bowl a few balls to batsmen participating in the 14-team tournament. However what started as a few throwdowns turned into a free-for-all as Sreesanth ended up bowling nearly three overs and that too in traditional India attire.
The tournament organisers see Sreesanth “as a celebrity and nothing less”. He has acted in two movies and also dipped his toes in the political field with the backing of the ruling national party BJP, losing the state assembly election by around 11,000 votes last year.
This is the worst decision ever..special rule for me?what about real culprits?What about chennai super kings ? And what about Rajasthan ?
— Sreesanth (@sreesanth36) October 17, 2017
One of the reasons behind his continuing popularity is the fact he is by far the most successful cricketer to come from the state of Kerala, which has traditionally produced some of the finest Indian athletes and footballers. Even the Kerala Cricket Association provided their full support to Sreesanth, making arrangements for his training and practice if given the go-ahead by the BCCI.
With such support from his community, it’s no surprise Sreesanth wants the freedom to play competitively, if not under the BCCI’s banner.
“If you were in my place, you just wouldn’t be angry. You would be something else. I have controlled my anger. I am just asking for my livelihood, I am not begging for anything,” Sreesanth said on the sidelines of the Pro Kerala League.
Well, at least he has the Malayalee community behind him.
.@sreesanth36 remains popular in the Malayalee community in UAE. Here he is bowling in Pro Kerala League in Dubai as the guest of honour pic.twitter.com/S1N4aGeFjM
— Sport360° (@Sport360) October 20, 2017
