Itching to get back to cricket, says Sreesanth after ban reduction

The cricketer said he will be returning the advance received for a Bollywood film he was to do, saying the focus now is only to get fit and play again.

S. Sreesanth is a relieved man after the Supreme Court reduced his life ban to a seven year sentence.

S. Sreesanth is delighted that his wait is finally over and that he could return to cricket next year.  “I was expecting this, but was still keeping my fingers crossed,” the seamer who was part of two World-Cup winning Indian teams told Sportstar , reacting to the BCCI ombudsman D.K. Jain’s order on Tuesday reducing his life ban to seven years. “I am itching to get back to cricket.”

READ : Sreesanth’s ban reduced to seven years, to end in August, 2020

He was in fact on his way to practice when he talked over phone from Kochi. “I had never given up hope and tried to keep myself in shape and train whenever I could,” said Sreesanth, who took 87 wickets from 27 Tests before his life turned upside down following the IPL spot-fixing scandal in 2013. “My first priority is to get back into my best shape.” He added he would cancel all his other commitments so that he could focus on cricket. “I have to complete one Kannada film in which I am playing the hero; but its shooting will be over by October,” he said. “I would be returning the advance amount I received for my Bollywood film, though. I am also dropping out of a few other projects in the entertainment industry; I had been doing all this because I had to earn a living.” He said he had become very hopeful about a return to cricket after the Supreme Court revoked the BCCI’s life ban last March. “I knew that this day would come sooner than later,” he said.