Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary on Friday said former pacer S. Sreesanth is indulging in empty talk by saying he can play for any other country.
Recently, Sreesanth had hinted that he might spend the rest of his career playing for another country in the wake of the Kerala High Court's decision to restore the life time ban on him.
He had also pointed out that the BCCI had banned him from playing in India, but not the the International Cricket Council (ICC) and, therefore, he is free to play for any other country.
"BCCI has imposed the ban, not ICC. If not India, I can play for any other country, because I am 34 now and I can only play for maximum six more years. As a person who loves cricket, I want to play cricket. And not only that, BCCI is a private firm; it is only us who say that this is the Indian team, but you know BCCI is a private body after all," Sreesanth had said at an event in Dubai.
Hitting back, Chaudhary said the ICC is very clear that any player who is banned by any full member can neither play for any other full member nor for any other association.
The BCCI acting secretary added that all this is just empty talk and that the BCCI is very well aware of their legal position.
On Tuesday, a division bench of the Kerala High Court had restored the life time ban imposed by the BCCI on Sreesanth in connection with the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal.
Allowing the appeal filed by the BCCI, the division bench headed by Chief Justice held that there is no violation of natural justice against the cricketer and quashed the single bench order in Sreesanth's favour..
Earlier, the BCCI had appealed to the Division Bench of Kerala High Court against lifting the life-time ban on the tainted pacer.
Sreesanth was banned by the BCCI for his alleged role in the IPL spot-fixing in 2013.
A single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court had earlier passed an order that the bowler's life-ban be lifted.
The court had also dropped all the charges against Sreesanth after he filed a plea challenging the life ban imposed on him.