S Sreesanth urges fans to have faith, tweets his innocence

Former India pacer S Sreesanth, who was banned for life by the BCCI on Friday for his role in IPL 6 spot-fixing scandal, took to Twitter on Saturday morning to maintain his innocence.

Plss have faith in me..Iam sure I will prove my innocence soon....I will get through this..I ve full faith ..God is great..

- Sreesanth (@sreesanth36) September 14, 2013

Sreesanth was cross-examined by the BCCI disciplinary committee in New Delhi on Friday, which includes vice-presidents Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah, based on the report submitted by the one-man probe panel. After the hearing, the 30-year-old claimed that there had been no talk of a possible ban and re-iterated that he had not cheated the game. However, soon after Sreesanth's comments, the board issued a press release, banning the Kerala pacer for life.

Sreesanth flew back to Kerala on Friday evening and expressed his surprise at the ban. "I have done no wrong. I will make a comeback and I have started training for that," he said on his arrival.

The pacer is a respected figure in Kerala and has found support in his home state. Former Kerala Cricket Association secretary K. Ajith Kumar and former umpire K.N. Raghavan expressed dismay at the 'harsh' punishment while Sreesanth's brother Deepu said his family was considering legal options to overturn the ban.

(With agency inputs)