Kerala Cricket Association slaps S Sreesanth with 3-year-ban for 'derogatory' remarks

In a recent piece of news, Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) handed a 3-year ban to S Sreesanth as he made ‘false and derogatory’ comments while speaking about a decision of the state cricket association a few months back. It all started when Sreesanth extended his support to the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson. 

The former India pacer criticised the Kerala Cricket Association for ignoring Sanju Samson and not picking him in the Kerala squad for the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 and Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025 at the beginning of this year.

“We have just one player at the international level, Sanju. Let’s all support him. The so-called KCA has not produced an international cricketer since Sanju. We have great players like Sachin, Nidheesh, Vishnu Vinod, and many others, but are they (KCA) pushing them to play at a higher level?” said Sreesanth to Onmanorama, a media outlet based in Kerala.

This statement from the former World Cup-winning India pacer didn’t go down well with the Kerala Cricket Association, and they looked quite firm in initiating serious action against S Sreesanth for these remarks.

In their serious response to S Sreesanth’s ‘unexpected’ and ‘critical’ remarks, the state cricket association of Kerala came up with a decision to suspend him for the next three years. This decision was finalised after the general body meeting of the KCA on April 30. Notably, Sreesanth is active with Kerala Cricket League’s team Aries Kollam Sailors as a co-owner.

KCA clears stance on S Sreesanth’s suspension

Meanwhile, the KCA also made it very clear that the suspension of Sreesanth was not for statements in Samson’s support but for his ‘false and derogatory’ remarks against the state cricket association.

“Following the controversial remarks, the KCA had issued show-cause notices to Sreesanth and the franchisee teams Kollam Aries, Alleppey Team Lead content creator Sai Krishna, and Alleppey Ripples,” said KCA in an official statement.

“As the franchisee teams gave satisfactory replies to the notice, the meeting decided not to proceed with further action against them. However, the KCA instructed the team management to be vigilant when including new members,” he added later.