‘Legends’ Sreesanth and Gambhir in ‘fixer’ row

FORMER India fast bowler S Sreesanth last Thursday (7) alleged that ex-teammate Gautam Gambhir called him a “fixer” during a Legends League Cricket (LLC) match.

The World Cup-winning players were involved in a heated exchange during an Eliminator match between Indian Capitals and Gujarat Giants. The umpires had to intervene and separate the two players.

“He kept on calling me ‘fixer, fixer, you are a fixer, **** off you fixer on live television on centre wicket,” Sreesanth said in an Instagram live post.

“I just said, ‘What are you saying’? I kept laughing in a sarcastic way. He spoke to the umpires in the same language when they tried to control him.”

Sreesanth was handed a life ban by the Indian cricket board’s disciplinary committee due to his alleged involvement in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013 spot-fixing scandal. However, the ban was reduced to seven years in 2019 by the country’s Supreme Court.

“From my side, I didn’t use any bad word. Please guys, support the real truth. He has been doing it with a lot of people,” Sreesanth said.

“I have no idea why he started it. It was the end of the over. Now his people are saying, ‘Sixer sixer bola hai but unhone bola you fixer, tu fixer hai (his people are claiming he said sixer but he said you are a fixer).

“This is not the way to talk. I’m thinking of leaving it (the incident) here but his people are trying to save him. I request you all to not fall for extra paid PR work,” the bowler said.

An hour after Sreesanth went live, Gambhir, who is a BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) MP from East Delhi, posted a picture of himself smiling in an Indian jersey on X, formerly Twitter, and captioned it, ‘Smile when the world is all about attention!’

Last Wednesday (6), in another Instagram live video after the game, Sreesanth had called Gambhir “Mr fighter”, adding that he did not even respect senior players.

“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 own senior players, including Viru bhai ( Virender Sehwag).”

“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,” Sreesanth said. “I am not at all at fault here. I just wanted to clear the air straight away. What Mr Gauti [Gambhir] has done, sooner or later all of you will get to know. The words that he used and the things he said on a cricket field, live, are 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,” he reiterated.

This is not the first time Gambhir has been involved in an on-field altercation. He has had fiery exchanges with Virat Kohli a couple of times during the IPL, including earlier this year when Royal Challengers Bangalore took on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Gambhir was LSG’s mentor back then.