Kochi: Tainted Indian pacer S. Sreesanth received a huge setback to his hopes of a comeback when the Kerala High Court on Tuesday restored the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI.
Earlier this year in August, the High Court had lifted the life ban on the bowler.
The Chief Justice Navniti Prasad Singh headed division bench said that a judicial review by the court on the life ban imposed by the BCCI isn’t possible and thus decided to uphold the appeal.
The verdict, given by the court after hearing the appeal petition for two days has not only ended all hopes of Sreesanth playing for the Kerala Ranji Trophy team but has also barred him for taking part in any practice sessions at any ground or place which falls under the BCCI or any other state association for that matter.
Jayesh George, the secretary of the Kerala Cricket Association in an interaction with the media revealed that they had been backing the bowler from the time his ban was lifted.
“We had made arrangements for him to undergo a full fitness test so as to make him match fit. Now with this verdict, we will now have to respect it,” he said.
All what Sreesanth can do now is to approach the Supreme Court and he is likely to take such a move according to sources close to him.
The angry bowler retaliated at the restoration of his ban by the Kerala High Court calling it the, ‘worst decision ever.’
The 34-year-old took to Twitter to express his frustration.
He tweeted, “This is the worst decision ever..special rule for me?what about real culprits?What about chennai super kings ? And what about Rajasthan ?”
In 2015, the Kerala speedster along with two other cricketers was handed life ban imposed by the BCCI’s disciplinary committee headed by the present finance minister Arun Jaitley despite them being acquitted by a Delhi court in a case registered by the Delhi police invoking the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).