Sreesanth returns for Kerala in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2020-21

Sreesanth is a pace bowler from Kerala, having played 90 international matches for India. He was handed a ban for his alleged involvement in a spot-fixing scandal in the IPL. The ban was later overturned, as he is ready to return to professional cricket.

Indian pacer S Sreesanth will be returning to competitive cricket after almost eight years. He gets set to represent Kerala in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2020-21, which is to get underway from January 10.

Sreesanth was named in the 26-man probable list for the side. He has now made it to the final 20-man squad, as announced by Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) on Wednesday, reports PTI.

Sreesanth was handed a ban by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for his alleged involvement in the 2013 spot-fixing scandal, in the Indian Premier League (IPL), while playing for Rajasthan Royals (RR). However, upon numerous appeals, the ban was turned down later, in 2019.

Apart from Sreesanth, the Kerala squad bolsters the likes of Sanju Samson, Sachin Baby, Robin Uthappa, Jalaj Saxena and Basil Thampi. While Samson will lead the side, Baby would be the vice-captain.

Meanwhile, Kerala would be playing in Elite Group E, where it would be facing off against Mumbai, Delhi, Andhra, Haryana and Puducherry. The side would get its group-stage campaign underway against Puducherry on January 11, while the group would play all its matches in Mumbai.

20-man Kerala squad: S Sreesanth, Sanju Samson, Sachin Baby, Basil Thampi, Jalaj Saxena, Robin Uthappa, Vishnu Vinod, Salman Nizar, Nidheesh MD, Asif KM, Akshay Chandran, Abhishek Mohan SL, Vinoop S Manoharan, Mohammed Azharuddeen M, Rohan S Kunnummal, Midhun S, Vathsal Govind Sharma, Sreeroop MP, Midhun PK and Rojith KG.