SC reserves order on Sreesanth's plea against lifetime ban by BCCI

Agencies
March 2, 2019

Kochi, Mar 2: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on a plea by former cricketer S. Sreesanth challenging the lifetime ban imposed on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for his alleged involvement in match fixing during 2013 IPL.

The bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice K.M. Joseph reserved the order as apex cricketing body said that Sreesanth was found guilty on all the three counts - corruption, betting and bringing disrepute to the game.

The court has given both Sreesanth and the BCCI to file their written submissions in two weeks.

Appearing for BCCI, senior counsel Parag Tripathi told the court that for corruption and betting, the punishment is lifetime ban from the game.

Pointing to zero tolerance towards corruption and betting and also any act bringing disrepute to cricket, Tripathi told the court that at no stage, Sreesanth brought it to the notice of BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit about his being approached by bookies.

The BCCI also reiterated the charge that Sreesanth never explained to the inquiry committee about where Rs 10 lakh, an amount that finds mention in the recorded telephonic conversation, came from.

In his rejoinder arguments, senior counsel, Salman Khurshid appearing for Sreesanth said that the onus of proving the guilt was on the BCCI. He said it was for the BCCI to establish that Rs 10 lakhs had come from questionable sources for match fixing.

Referring to the taped conversation, Khurshid said it says that transaction would take place only if former cricketer concedes 14 runs in an over and that it would be off for anything less than that.

In the alleged over, where Sreesanth was to concede 14 runs, in fact 13 runs could be scored. It has been contended against Sreesanth that there was one no ball, which would have made it to 14 runs, but it escaped the umpire's sight.

Wrapping up his rejoinder arguments, Khurshid urged the court to save the career of the "young cricketer, who is not that young now, but still retains the spirit of cricket."

In the earlier hearing, Sreesanth had told the court that he initially confessed to the Special Cell of Delhi Police about his alleged involvement in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal to escape sustained and continuous police torture.

Sreesanth moved the top court challenging the Kerala High Court order upholding the lifetime ban on him by the BCCI.

The BCCI had on May 15 last year opposed the plea by Sreesanth seeking a relaxation of the ban on him, so that he could play in county cricket in England.

BCCI had earlier told the court that it has already appealed against the order discharging Sreesanth in the spot-fixing case during IPL 2013.

The Delhi Police had arrested Sreesanth and his two other Rajasthan Royals' teammates, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, on the charge of spot-fixing during IPL 2013.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Srinagar, Jan 10: Real Kashmir FC made a strong comeback in the second half to play out a 1-1 draw against former champions Punjab FC in their home I-League match here on Friday.

The 'Snow Leopards' equalised in the 62nd minute through Gnohere Krizo in front of a partisan crowd of 8,500 spectators after Makan Chothe had given Punjab FC the lead in the 21st minute at the TRC ground.

After Thursday's draw, Punjab FC is placed third on the table with 10 points from seven games. Real Kashmir FC remained at eighth with six points from five matches. This was Real Kashmir's third home match on the trot.

The match was a story of two halves as the first belonged to the visitors who enjoyed a 62 per cent possession of the ball, whereas the second belonged to the home side.

Both the teams were looking to gain an early advantage and Punjab FC took the lead after 21 minutes.

Confusion inside the Real Kashmir box because of a long ball from Punjab opened up an opportunity for Chothe and he made no mistake as he smashed the ball at the back of the net.

As the fans cheered on, Real Kashmir created a flurry of chances, but none of the home side players could find the back of the net. Punjab was able to hold on to their slender lead heading into the tunnel.

The second half resumed with Real Kashmir pressing high up the field and pressurising Punjab.

In the 56th minute, Real Kashmir playmaker Kallum Higginbotham cut through two defenders on the left side of the box and the ball fell to Mason Robertson, whose shot was too weak to trouble the Punjab goalkeeper.

Soon after, it was Danish Farooq who tried a curler from a distance but his shot did not have enough bend to trouble the Punjab goalkeeper. The home team's effort finally paid off in the 62nd minute.

A miscalculated header by Danilo Augusto fell at the feet of Gnohere Krizo, who was one-on-one with the keeper. He made no mistake in striking the ball into the opponent's goal to score the equaliser.

Real Kashmir was in their groove now, and Kallum came in from the right with a beautiful low cross across the face of the goal but Mason could not get a touch as the chance went begging.

The duo of Kallum and Mason were proving difficult for Punjab to deal with. In the 82nd minute, a beautiful long ball by Kallum found the head of a towering Mason, but the effort went just over the crossbar.

Within a few moments, Punjab again had another nervous moment as Chesterpoul Lyngdoh's cross from the right side hit the arm of Thoiba Singh but the referee turned down an appeal for penalty.

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News Network
July 3,2020

Karachi, Jul 3: Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam is tired of his constant comparisons with India skipper Virat Kohli and says he would rather be compared to the greats at home.

Babar, six years younger to Kohli, has a long way to go in getting close to Kohli's staggering numbers across formats. The India skipper has 70 hundreds to his name and averages more than 50 in all three formats.

"I would be more happy if you compare to me say a Javed Miandad, Muhammad Yousuf or Younis Khan. Why compare me to Kohli or any Indian player?" asked the 25-year-old, who is in England with the national team, said in an online media interaction on Thursday.

Babar has scored 16 international hundreds and averages more than 50 in ODIs and T20s. In 26 Tests, he has scored 1850 runs at 45.12.

He also said that he is not targeting any English bowler for the series next month.

"I don’t see who the bowler is or his reputation. I just try to play each ball on merit. England no doubt has a top bowling attack and they have advantage of playing at home but this is a challenge I want to score runs in," he said.

Before the squad’s departure for England, Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan said that pacer Joffra Archer will be a handful for the Pakistani batsmen.

Babar said that he would try to play every English bowler on merit but conceded that after getting runs in Australia last year, he was keen to leave his footprint in the coming Test and T20 series in England.

Reminded that some former Test players had already written off Pakistan for the England series, Babar said they were entitled to their opinion.

"But we don’t have a bad team and already we have been enjoying our training. It is good to be back on the field after such a long lay-off. I think we have the bowlers to trouble them like Abbas, Naseem, Shaheen and others while we have some experience in our batting line-up."

Babar said he would love to get a triple century in a Test match.

"When you score a century, you naturally want to go on and convert that into a double or a triple century. This is something I would like to do during the Test series.

"I like to play my natural game but my selection of shots depends on the conditions and bowlers."

Babar also ruled out any problems in the Pakistan dressing room due to the presence of former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was sacked last year.

But he said that since Muhammad Rizwan had been playing in all formats for Pakistan in recent times, he would be the starting keeper in the Test series ahead of Sarfaraz.

"I think we first have to give Rizwan a proper chance and Sarfaraz is there as back up."

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Agencies
January 14,2020

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