Surat: The Legends League Cricket (LLC) will conduct an "internal investigation" after former India pacer S Sreesanth on Thursday alleged that ex-India teammate Gautam Gambhir had called him a "fixer" during a match, and if evidence of misconduct is found against the latter it would be "dealt with strictly".
"Legends League Cricket strives to uphold the spirit of cricket and sportsmanship and will conduct an internal investigation on the violation of the code of conduct. Any misconduct that has occurred both on and off the field including on social media platforms will be dealt with strictly," said Kirmani in a statement on Thursday.
"The code of conduct has clearly stated that necessary action will be taken against players that bring disrepute to the league, the spirit of the game and the teams that they are representing. We make our stand very clear and continue to work towards sharing the game with millions of cricketing lovers across the nation and world," added the former India wicket-keeping great.
LLC CEO Raman Raheja said, " The league will take appropriate action against the breach of contract. All players contracted in the Legends League Cricket are bound by certain terms related to misconduct and necessary action will be taken as per the codes of conduct laid down by the Code of Conduct and Ethics Committee."
LLC called the incident unfortunate and said it has pulled the "focus if only for a short time away from what has so far been an extremely exciting season".
Earlier, During an Eliminator match between Indian Capitals and Gujarat Giants on Wednesday, the enmity between the two players started during the second over of the first innings when Gambhir played a dot ball after hitting a six and four against S Sreesanth. However, the rivalry flared after the sixth over as the two players were seen charging towards each other and the umpires and players had to intervene to separate them.
After the knock-out match, Sreesanth claimed that the India Capitals skipper had called him a cheater during the on-field fight and was very rude and he would reveal the details of the verbal banter between the two players.
An hour after Sreesanth went live on Thursday, Gambhir, who is a BJP MP from East Delhi, posted on X a picture of himself in the Indian jersey smiling, captioning it, "Smile when the world is all about attention!"
Now, a day later, Sreesanth, in a video he posted on his official Instagram handle, has revealed that Gambhir repeatedly addressed him as a "fixer" even after umpires intervened. Sreesanth claimed that throughout the spat, he did not respond to Sreesanth with any "bad word".
"He kept on calling me on live TV, on the center wicket, I didn't use a single bad word, a single abusive word to him. I only said ' What are you saying?'" Sreesanth said. "In fact, I kept laughing sarcastically because he kept calling me, ' Fixer, fixer, you are a fixer … f*** off fixer.
On Wednesday, 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 had said. "I am not at all at fault here. I just wanted to clear the air straight away. What Mr Gauti 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.
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