S Sreesanth Retirement: From spot fixing to Harbhajan Singh’s slap, Top 5 controversies involving Sreesanth

Two-time World Cup-winning player S Sreesanth announced his retirement from all forms of domestic cricket on Wednesday. The right-arm pacer was part of India’s world cup winning team in 2007 and in 2011. However, the highlight of Sreesanth’s career was not his achievements on the field but the controversies he was part of. Right from spot-fixing to fight with Harbhajan here are the top five controversies involving S Sreesanth. 

Beamer against Kevin Pietersen 

S Sreesanth bowled a waist-high full toss against England batsman Kevin Pietersen. He also shoulder-barged into the then English skipper Michael Vaughan. He was fined 50% of the match fee.  

“Cricket is a non-contact sport and any deviation from that fact is completely unacceptable, a point I made to Sreesanth in handing down my verdict,” ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle said about the incident.

Dance on the field 

In the 2006 India tour of South Africa, Sreesanth smashed a six down the ground against the bowling of Andre Nel and then decided to show off his dance moves by swinging the bat in the air. He also stared at the South African pacer after a huge six over the long-off 

Harbhajan and Sreesanth 

On 25 April 2008, following the victory of his Kings XI Punjab’s victory in the Indian Premier League over the Mumbai Indians at Mohali, Sreesanth was slapped under his eye by Harbhajan Singh, the captain of Mumbai. 

The incident came to light as Sreesanth was caught by TV cameras sobbing inconsolably on the field before the presentation ceremony. Sreesanth later downplayed the incident saying he had no complaints against Harbhajan who was “like an elder brother” to him. 

Harbhajan’s team had lost their third consecutive match when he apparently reacted violently to Sreesanth’s approaching him and saying “hard luck”. 

The IPL banned Harbhajan from the remainder of the tournament and prohibited him from collecting his salary after finding him guilty. The BCCI launched a separate investigation into the incident and decided to ban 

Harbhajan for five ODIs, deeming him to have broken the code of conduct in his national contract. In Australia earlier that year, Sreesanth stated that he would maintain an aggressive attitude on the cricket field, “Sreesanth’s way is to be aggressive. Sreesanth will always remain Sreesanth.”

Spot Fixing

On 16 May 2013, the Delhi police arrested Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan from Mumbai, on charges of spot-fixing during IPL 6. Jiju Janardhan, another key figure accused of spot-fixing, is reported to be Sreesanth’s cousin and an under-22 Gujarat player. On 17 May 2013, Sreesanth confessed to spot-fixing, according to police. However, Sreesanth has always maintained that he is innocent and that he was forced to sign confession statements.

Police reported that Sreesanth was drunk at the time of his arrest and thought he was being arrested for being drunk. When the Delhi police team intercepted him, he was reportedly accompanied by a woman in an SUV outside a five-star hotel in Carter Road Promenade, Mumbai.

Sreesanth and the two other players accused of spot-fixing had their Rajasthan Royals contracts suspended while their inquiries were pending. On 13 September 2013, Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan were banned for life by BCCI’s disciplinary committee.

In July 2015, he was acquitted in the spot-fixing case. On 18 October 2017, the Kerala High Court restored the life ban on Sreesanth.

In March 2019, the Supreme Court of India “set aside” the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI. The apex court of the country asked the BCCI to “reconsider” and “revisit” the length of any fresh ban. Following this, the BCCI reduced his ban to 7 years, which meant that he could play all forms of the game from 13 September 2020.

Warning for excess appealing

Sreesanth is noted for his exuberant and emotional behaviour, especially whilst appealing for and celebrating wickets. He has been warned several times for indiscipline both on and off the cricket field, and frequently fined for violating the player conduct guidelines of the International Cricket Council. In October 2009, the BCCI issued a final warning to Sreesanth that any repetition of his code of conduct violations might result in drastic actions such as a ban from domestic cricket. Subsequently, the Kerala Cricket Association also issued a final warning over repeated violations of their code of conduct after Sreesanth failed to turn up at the Kerala Ranji Trophy team camp in Kannur.

In November 2009, however, after more than 18 months of omission from the national team, Sreesanth was recalled to the Test squad for the first two matches against Sri Lanka. He replaced Ishant Sharma for the second Test in Kanpur, where his five-wicket haul in the first innings of the match earned him the Man of the Match award and helped India to win the Test match by an innings and 144 runs.