On Wednesday Sreesanth announced retirement from all forms of
cricket. Sreesanth played 27 tests and 53 ODIs for India and took 87 and 75
wickets respectively. He also played 10 T20 international in which he took 7
wickets.
His career was cut short after being involved in spot fixing.
Although this wasn’t only controversy associated with him.
Let’s take a took on controversies he was involved in :
Spot Fixing
In 2013 Sreesanth was involved in IPL spot fixing. After his
involvement, BCCI decided to ban him for life , although his ban was cut short later.
Supreme Court removed life ban from him, but Sreesanth could play only this year
after a gap of nine years.
Slapgate Scandal.
In 2008 IPL season, after a match between Mumbai Indians and Kings
XI Punjab, Harbhajan Singh had allegedly slapped him. The pacer started crying on
the field. However Harbhajan denied allegations and there were no evidence caught
on camera.
Sreesanth vs Andre Nel incident.
During the tour of South Africa in 2005, Sreesanth continued
to have an altercation with South African captain Graeme Smith and his pacer
Andre Nel. During one of the Test matches, Nel bowled a bouncer at hime and
gave a good, long stare. Next ball, Sreeasanth smashed down the ground for a
maximum and then started dancing to tease the pacer. Nel smiled and went back
to his run-up.
Beamer to Kevin Pietersen
During India’s 2007 tour of England, Sreesanth, agitated by
Kevin Pietersen, bowled a beamer at the batter. The England cricketer was
frightened by that delivery. Sreesanth apologised but many experts, including
former cricketer and expert Michael Atherton, believed he should have been
banned for one match for bowling that lethal delivery. He also said that he
does not believe that the beamer was bowled accidentally.