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On Spot-Fixing Scandal
"I swear on my kids, I swear on my dad, who is ill but surviving for the last five-and-half years just to watch a match, I swear on my mom, who had her left leg amputated just one-and-half months back and who hasn't given up hope of watching me in a match - I haven't done it (spot-fixed in a game). I will never do it even for 100 crores."
Suicidal thoughts:
Narrating his harrowing experience at Delhi's Tihar Jail, where he interred for 26 days, the Kerala cricketer claimed he was bullied by jail inmates and suffered mental and physical torture.
Suicidal thoughts often crossed his mind and to that he said, "I came close, very close, to death four-five times but I pulled myself back. Some power, even bigger than god, like something that made god maybe," he says. "I have grown a lot more philosophical in the last six years." Therapists did their bit. "No shame in saying that but more than anything I think it was music that got me out of it."
On Paddy Upton's allegation
Former Rajasthan Royals coach Paddy Upton in his book wrote that Sreesanth was so desperate to play that when he was dropped, he had abused him and Rahul Dravid, the captain. Upton seemed to suggest in his book that in hindsight, Sreesanth's desperation was because he wanted to play to fix.
"Mr Upton, touch your heart and touch your kid's heads, did I ever abuse you either during India team or in IPL? I want to ask the legend Rahul Dravid, someone whom I respect and love, when did I ever fight with him? When did I abuse with him the way Upton said in his book?"
On his hatred for Chennai Super Kings
"I requested Upton many times to let me play that game - only because of my history with CSK and because I wanted to defeat them. He made it out differently that I wanted to play as if for fixing. Everybody knows how much I hate CSK, I don't have to say. People might say because of MS Dhoni or N Srinivasan sir or whatever but that's not the truth; I just hate the yellow colour. I hated Australia for the same reason. Most importantly, I have done extremely well against CSK that's why I wanted to play."
