Apart from his alleged involvement in the spot-fixing, speedster S Sreesanth’s time in the Indian Premier League was mainly marred by the controversies.
During the inaugural edition of IPL back in 2008, Sreesanth was slapped by his then India teammate Harbhajan Singh during a clash between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab. Moreover, there was also a rumoured rift between him and Rajasthan Royals’ coach Paddy Upton, who wrote in his recently released autobiography that the Kerala pacer abused him when he was not allowed to play in an IPL fixture against Chennai Super Kings.
In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, Sreesanth on Sunday (September 29) gave clarification on rumoured rift with Upton and also opened up about his hatred towards the CSK franchise.
“Mr Upton, touch your heart and touch your kid’s heads, did I ever abuse you either during India team or in IPL? I want to ask the legend Rahul Dravid, someone whom I respect and love, when did I ever fight with him? When did I abuse with him the way Upton said in his book?” he said.
“I requested Upton many times to let me play that game — only because of my history with CSK and because I wanted to defeat them. He made it out differently that I wanted to play as if for fixing. Everybody knows how much I hate CSK, I don’t have to say. People might say because of MS Dhoni or N Srinivasan sir or whatever but that’s not the truth; I just hate the yellow colour. I hated Australia for the same reason. Most importantly, I have done extremely well against CSK that’s why I wanted to play,” the 36-year-old added.
Sreesanth, who was banned for life by the BCCI for his alleged involvement in the disgraceful IPL 2013 spot-fixing saga, also went on to say that such fake allegations hurt him more than the police torture he had to suffer.
“That allegation that I abused the two was the most disappointing. That was bigger than torture by police. That thing still hurts. Other players would talk about Upton, “Yeh kaun hai bey, Kirsten sab kuch karte hain (who is this guy, Kirsten does everything).’ Have I ever behaved like that with him? I really hope your book sells more because you seem so desperate,” he remarked.
Last month, the BCCI Ombudsman Justice DK Jain has passed an order of reducing the life ban imposed on Sreesanth to seven years after observing that he is well past his prime. Subsequently, the Kerala lad became eligible to play all forms of cricket from 13th September 2020, as he has already served the 6 years of his ban.
