The Kerala Cricket Association on Friday suspended former India’s former pacer Sreesanth before KCA’s activities related to all cricket related activities to make “false and defamation statements” against the association after the boycott of Sanju Samson from the Champions Trophy team of India earlier this year.
KCA said that the decision to suspend Sreesanth, the co-owner of Aries Kollam sailor suffrage in the Kerala Cricket League, was taken on 30 April at a special KCA General Body Meeting in Kochi.
“Following the controversial comments, KCA issued show-causes notices to Sreesanth and franchise teams Kollam Aries, ALPP team leading material manufacturer Sai Krishna, and ELPP Reples. Read the KCA statement.
KCA also stated that he would demand legal action for compensation of Sanju’s father, Samson Vishwanath, Regi Leukos and a Twentyfor News Channel anchor, to create “baseless charges against the association in the name of Sanju”.
What is the KCA-Samsan-Sesan controversy?
In February 2025, in December 2024, a show-causal notice was issued against Sreesanth for slamming KCA in the decision to snub Sanju from the Vijay Hazare Trophy squad.
KCA stated that the reason for this was not to show support to Samson for notice Senant, but for “making false and defamation statements” which was a violation of his contractual conditions as co-owners of Kollam sailor franchise.
In response to Sreesanth’s comments, KCA brought the infamous 2013 spot-fixing case against Sreesanth to say that it always supported the players, even though he was in jail, which was an excavation in the former Pesar of East India.
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“When Sreesanth was in jail, he was facing allegations in the infamous match-fixing scam, KCA officials visited and supported him. However, the court dismissed the criminal case, it is a fact that he has not been acquitted in the match-fixing case. In such a situation, there is no need to lift the safety of other players.”
Sreesanth’s response
Sreesanth had asked which international players managed to produce KCA after Samson. At this, KCA slammed Sreesanth’s “ignorance about Kerala cricket” before listing the players’ names: “Sajana Sajeevan, Minumani, Asha Shobana, and under -19 World Cup winning teams like Joshita VJs in the team like Joshita VJ, Nazla in the Under -19 team Nazla CMC, and Mohammed Enan.
However, instead of prolonging KCA in an interview with Kerala Media Outlet Onmoroma, Sreesanth did not return after a show-causal notice, where he questioned why KCA is ignoring local players. He said, “They (KCAs) take players from other states to play for us. What? Our Malayali is derogatory for cricketers,” he said.
“We have only one player internationally, Sanju. Let’s all support him,” Sreesanth said. “The so -called KCA has not produced an international cricketer since Sanju. We have great players like Sachin, Nidhesh, Vishnu Vinod and many others, but are they (KCA) pushing him to play at high levels?” He questioned.
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Kerala finally proceeded to qualify for the final of its first Ranji Trophy in 2024–25, ending the runners-up behind Vidarbha in the absence of an injured Samson.
Why was Sanju Samson dropped?
Earlier, explaining why Samson was ignored for the VHT tournament, KCA Secretary Vinod S Kumar told The Indian Express: “Sanju sent an email that would not be available for the camp. The team had a small camp in Wayanad without him. Naturally, we were not only with those who were part of selections.
