Known for their temperament during their playing days, former India cricketers and World Cup winning stars Gautam Gambhir and S Sreesanth were on Wednesday engaged in a verbal exchange at a Legends League match between Gujarat Giants and India Capitals, with the latter revealing that the BJP Lok Sabha MP terming him a ‘fixer’.
In an emotional video posted on his social media handle, Sreesanth alleged that Gambhir repeatedly kept on calling him a fixer, and went on to use the same words even when the umpires intervened.
“Fixer, fixer, you’re a fixer… you f**k off, fixer. He kept saying that,” revealed Sreesanth on Thursday. “He kept on calling me that, on live television on the centre of the wicket. This is the language he used on live TV. He also told the same thing in front of umpires as they tried to control him.”
Sreesanth added: “I did not say a single bad word or an abusive word at him. I only kept saying ‘what are you saying?’ Then I laughed in a sarcastic way.”
The incident took place in the second over, when Gambhir dispatched the right-arm pacer for a six and a four before the bowler came back with a dot ball and followed it up with a fast bowler’s stare, after which there was a flare-up between the two.
On Wednesday, Sreesanth had uploaded a video claiming that Gambhir had said something “very rude” but had not revealed what exactly was said.
“Just wanted to clear the air with what happened with Mr fighter. One who always fights with all his colleagues? For no reason whatsoever. He does not even respect his senior players, including Viru (Virender Sehwag) bhai. That’s exactly what happened today. Without any provocation, he just kept on calling me something which was very rude which shouldn’t have been said by Mr Gautam Gambhir,” the Kerala bowler said.
He went on to add: “I am not at all at fault here. I just wanted to clear the air straightaway. What Mr Gauti has done, sooner or later all of you will get to know. The words which he used and the things he said on a cricket field, live, is not acceptable. My family, my state, everybody has gone through so much. I fought that battle with all your support. Now people want to down me for no reason. He said things he shouldn’t have said. I will surely let you know what he said.”
Lashing out at the former India opener, Sreesanth further said, “What’s the point of representing people if you don’t respect your own colleagues? Even in live broadcasting when he is asked about Virat, he never speaks about him, he speaks about something else. I don’t want to go further in detail. Just want to say I am very hurt and my family is hurt and my dear ones are hurt. And the way he said things…. Just want to. I haven’t used a single bad word or a single abuse, nothing. He just kept on saying words which he always does.”
Sreesanth was earlier charged by the Delhi police on the allegations of spot-fixing along with two other players of the Rajasthan Royals franchise during the 2013 Indian Premier League, and later served jail sentence for 27 days. He was later released after the charges were later dropped by a Delhi court, and subsequently the BCCI reduced his ban to seven years, thus ensuring his return to competitive cricket in 2020.