Last month, the Ranji team of Kerala announced that they are willing to consider pacer S Sreesanth for a spot in their playing roster after September, once his terms of ban from cricket under the ambit of the BCCI is lifted.

waited for 2597 days ..7 year's completed in September .. Finally he is back for ranji trophy .#sreesanth pic.twitter.com/WDiKTk8cfj

â âââyââ áµ£âââ±¼ââ âââᵤ(ସମà­à­à¬ ରà¬à­à¬à¬¨ ସାହà­) (@samyak_ind) June 18, 2020

The 37-year-oldâs life took a horrible turn when he was found guilty in a spot-fixing scandal during the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League and was banned for life from taking part in any form of cricket, which fell under the jurisdiction of the BCCI or the ICC. 

Thankfully for him, in 2019 the Supreme Court (while still finding him guilty in the eyes of the law), urged the BCCI to reduce his period of the ban, which was respected, and Sreesanthâs ban came down to a total of seven years, which ends in a couple of months.

The Supreme Court has lifted the life ban imposed on S. Sreesanth by the @BCCI in the wake of the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.

More details by @harishvnair1 in conversation with @preetiddahiya. pic.twitter.com/0M3B1jJAk9

â TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 15, 2019

While things seem to be improving for the hot-headed paceman, albeit at the twilight of his fitness peak, the scars from his prison days continue to haunt him.  

In a conversation with CricTracker, the Kothamangalam-born opened up about how scared, nervous and tormented he felt behind bars. 

âIf you look at my life, it was a fraction of second, it was the after-match party, I was taken to the terrorist ward, I felt I was being made âBakraâ. For 12 days, it was a torture for me for 16-17 hours per day. I was always thinking about my house and family at that time. After a few days, my elder brother came to visit me and then I got to know that my family was fine. My family members motivated me and were really behind me,â Sreesanth said during an Instagram Live session.

© Reuters

âOn a serious note, winning every battle is important, everyone is fighting their own battle. Even if Sachin Tendulkar scores century in a game, he will bat from zero in next game. Think for 10 seconds before you take any decision, you should know that âthis too shall passâ. Just achieve whatever you want to achieve, donât wait for what the world says,â he added.

The speedster fought a long and hard battle for six years before the Indian judicial system showed mercy. All he wanted was that one opportunity to get back on the ground and do what he loved the most - play cricket. 

View this post on InstagramA post shared by (@sreesanthnair36)

âI totally deserve a chance to play club cricket, so that I at least get to prove my fitness levels and play for the Kerala cricket team,â he had said in an interview with the Times of India back in 2019 before the Supreme Court ruled to reduce his sentence.

âIf my ban is lifted and I get to play for six months, I will give a lot of youngsters a run for their money.â

And now he has the chance to do just that.

In the same interview with CricTracker, the cricketer also reacted to the unfortunate demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput which stunned the entire nation and started a wave of anger against nepotism in the Indian film industry.

This is beyond shocking!! #SushantSinghRajput commits suicide by hanging himself!! I donât know what to say as I had worked with him!! pic.twitter.com/1ZRN5N07qf

â salil arunkumar sand (@isalilsand) June 14, 2020

âI was training at that time, my wife messaged me, I didnât check it at that time. Later, when I was in my car, I got a voice mail from my wife and I thought it was mazak. When I heard different voice mails, I got to know it was true, many were circulating his pictures on social media. 

âLuckily, no one clicked me going to jail or coming out of jail. Luckily, my kids will not see such pictures. I felt sad on that day (Sushantâs demise day),â he added.

View the full article