Kochi, May 2 : Controversial former India speedster S.Sreesanth has been suspended by the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) for three years. The decision to ban him was taken at its most recent annual general body meeting and was shared by the KCA in a statement issued on Friday.

'The statement of Sreesanth attacking the KCA for Kerala cricketer Sanju Samson not being included in the national side for the Champions Trophy tournament was baseless and needless. Hence, we have decided to suspend him for three years from the KCA,' said the statement.

Sreesanth had alleged that Samson was sidelined by the KCA to play for the Kerala side last year and hence missed selection to the national team for the Champions Trophy. Meanwhile, Sreesanth is now waiting for the official communication from the KCA, and according to sources, he will be taking legal recourse against the three-year suspension.

This is not the first time that Sreesanth has courted trouble, as the previous instance was in 2023 when the Legends League Cricket (LLC) Commissioner served him a legal notice following his rant over an on-field altercation with the present Indian men's team head coach and former national player Gautam Gambhir.

His previous troubles came at his last IPL match for the Rajasthan Royals against Punjab on May 9, 2013, the season in which he was accused of being involved in spot-fixing, which led to his arrest. Though Sreesanth always maintained his innocence throughout the controversy, he was handed a life ban along with Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila.

The fast bowler then challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, which set aside the life ban and asked the BCCI to consider a fresh punishment. The sentence was reduced to a seven-year suspension, which ended in September 2020.

Thereafter, Sreesanth played for Kerala in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2021. He also made his Ranji Trophy comeback and he played his last match for Kerala against Meghalaya in the 2021-22 edition, finishing with 2 for 40 and 0 for 57 in the two innings. Soon, he announced his retirement, finishing his career with 213 wickets in 74 first-class games while he picked up 124 wickets in 92 appearances in List-A cricket. Sreesanth also played 65 T20 matches in which he bagged 54 wickets.

The pacer made his India debut in October 2005 in an ODI against Sri Lanka. He represented the country in 53 ODIs and picked 75 wickets. He also played 27 Test matches and 10 T20Is for India, bagging 87 and seven wickets respectively.

/IANS