After the wait of seven long years, Sreesanth is set to make comeback in the game of cricket. He will be playing in the KCA President’s Cup T20 tournament, scheduled to begin on December 17.
This will be his first competitive match since 2013 when he was banned after being found guilty for spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In September this year, his seven-year-long ban ended.
S Sreesanth thanks BCCI and KCA:
Sreesanth thanked Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) for giving him the opportunity in the T20 league. He is confident and feels fitter than he was in 2011.
“Thanks to the Kerala Cricket Association. I am really grateful to the selectors as well for giving me the opportunity. It is a great initiative taken by the association. Thanks to the BCCI as well, it has been seven long years. I have been training really hard. I am looking forward to the tournament, it is going to be an amazing President’s Cup,” Sreesanth told ANI.
“I will keep giving my best because it is something that I have waited for seven long years… I am very confident, I think I am fitter than I was in 2011, when I played the World Cup,” he added.
On Thursday, KCA had said that it would be resuming its cricket activities with the KCA President’s Cup T20 tournament and permission for conducting the same has been requested from the Government Authorities.
“This inaugural T20 tournament will be an annual affair involving six teams selected by a committee constituted by KCA for this purpose. There shall be no franchisees or owners. Each team consists of 14 players and 2 support staff. There will also be 4 players ‘on-call’ for each team, if replacements are required,” KCA had said in a statement.
Sreesanth, initially, was banned for a lifetime but in August 2019, it was reduced to seven years after Supreme Court ordered. He represented India in 27 Tests, 53 ODIs and 10 T20Is and picked up 87, 75 and seven wickets respectively.