BCCI's anti-corruption unit denies Sreesanth's discrimination claims

Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: Indian cricket board's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit has rejected S Sreesanth's allegations that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has separate rules for him and he is being singled out in the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing case.

"I don't think there is any discrimination. Even the other banned players are also not playing international cricket. If they are playing at some local level where the BCCI doesn't come into picture, we are not aware of it," Neeraj Kumar, the Chief of BCCI’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, told ANI.

"Sreesanth can plead that he is innocent, but according to us he is guilty. He can contest the charges as a citizen and it's under judicial process so I can't comment," Kumar added.

Sreesanth was banned for life following allegations of spot-fixing during an IPL match in 2013.

In an interview to a news channel, Sreesanth had said that there are many people who were named by the Delhi police in their report but are still playing international cricket.

He then asked, “Teams like Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) banned only for two years... Why weren't players from CSK questioned?"

Last month, the BCCI all but finished Sreesanth's cricket career by invoking International Cricket Council (ICC) rules to declare that he cannot play for another country following the Kerala High Court order which upheld the lifetime ban imposed by the cricket board.

Earlier, Sreesanth had hinted at the possibility of playing up for another country. He had said that "BCCI has imposed the ban, not ICC".

“During the probe, cops dropped one name after the other... yes, some of them are still playing for the country," he added.

In August, a single bench of the court had quashed the BCCI's ban on Sreesanth. It observed that “no material or evidence before the disciplinary committee to conclude that Sreesanth was guilty of a violation of the anti-corruption code formulated by the BCCI”.

But, while restoring the ban, the division bench in October said that the court cannot conduct a reappraisal of the evidence that BCCI's disciplinary committee relied on.

The bench also said that it's only conducting a judicial review and is not sitting as an appellate authority over BCCI's decision.

Sreesanth played 27 Tests, 53 ODIs and 10 T20Is for India, taking 87, 75 and 7 wickets respectively.

He last played for India in a Test match against England at The Oval in August 2011.