Sreesanth life ban: Kerala High Court Issues Notice To Vinod Rai-led CoA

Glimmer of hope for Sreesanth?

What’s the story?

The Kerala High Court has issued a notice to the BCCI and has sought its stance on the ongoing tussle between S Sreesanth and the board pertaining to the comeback of the former into the cricketing fold. 

The Justice P B Suresh Kumar-led bench has issued a notice to the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators. The next hearing on the matter is slated to be held on June 19.

The Details

This notice has been sent across by the Kerala High Court as a response to the plea by the seamer, who had earlier challenged the continued life ban even after he was acquitted of all the match-fixing charges during IPL 2013. 

The affidavit stated, “the decision of the sessions court to acquit the petitioner from the criminal charges has no impact whatsoever on the decision of the internal disciplinary committee of the BCCI to ban the petitioner from playing cricket tournaments organised by the BCCI and/or its affiliates."

In case you didn’t know...

The 34-year old Kerala pacer has been trying to make a comeback into the game and he even approached the Kerala High Court back in March after a Delhi court quashed the spot-fixing case.

The Kerala Court asked him to file a review petition before the BCCI, but the BCCI did not budge from its stance and ended all hoped for the Kerala pacer.

Owing to the aforementioned issues, Sreesanth cannot play even league cricket and will not be eligible to enter or use any practice facilities in any BCCI-affiliated ground anywhere across the country.

What's next?

It would be interesting to see the response of the BCCI after the Kerala High Court sent across a notice and how will it impact the future of the tainted fast bowler. 

Since the BCCI did not alter its stance even after the initial verdict, it would thus be intrguing to see if the disciplinary committee make certain changes to accommodate the plea of the bowler. 

Author's Take

Although, one has to applaud the stance of the BCCI where in it is not willing to give any leeways to corruption within the game, the board has to give some cognisance to the appeal of the bowler as he has taken the legal route.