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4 min readChennaiUpdated: Feb 2, 2026 01:52 PM IST
Former cricketer Sreesanthwho was accused in the 2013 spot-fixing and betting case, recently opened up about the difficult phase and revealed how it was his wife — then girlfriend — Bhuvneshwari Kumari and her family who stood by him during the darkest period of his life. He shared that just when he and Bhuvneshwari had decided to tie the knot, he was arrested in the spot-fixing case.
‘My in-laws stood with me’
Sreesanth recalled telling Bhuvneshwari’s father that after his arrest, he might never be able to play for India again. “I told her father that I might not play for the country. That is why I want to say huge respect to the entire Shekhawat family. Because at that time I was being labelled a terrorist and you name it, whatever was going on then, but they stood with me.”
‘When I heard of his arrest, dharti phat gai’
Bhuvneshwari admitted that when Sreesanth was caught in the thick of the controversy, her father was unaware of their plans to get married. “Until that, my dad did not know that I want to marry him. This was before Shree was arrested. So then, one day, when I was in Hyderabad, all my friends asked me to switch on TV at 7 in the morning and I saw him arrested in a spot fixing case. I was like ‘Oh my God, what am I going to tell my dad?’ It felt like the ground has split open, and you just want to disappear in it.”
Recalling her father’s reaction, she said, “My dad called me and he was very upset with the fact that I had gone to Hyderabad. He asked me to come back and I told him that ‘I won’t come back till you promise me that you will hear me out, and that you will also not cancel this marriage because of what you are seeing on television.’ Because, even if God comes and tells me that he has done this, I would never believe it.”
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Sreesanth admitted that he was suicidal during that time, but it was Bhuvneshwari’s unwavering support that kept him going. “I really didn’t know what was happening, but I want to say that I was arrested. At that time, I realised that there is only one boss, which is God. I was in the most difficult situation. I was literally on the verge of (shows the gesture of slashing his throat). I told myself I’m done with it. Because I was being told that I was a terrorist and people around me kept saying that your life is over. I told my brother that in the next 3-4 days I might get killed or I might kill myself or whatever.”
‘I was in Tihar for 27 days’
Sreesanth also recalled meeting his would-be father-in-law for the first time in court. “At that time, my brother said just one thing — that a girl (Bhuvneshwari) is waiting for you for seven years. She had told me ‘please make sure you don’t do anything stupid.’ She told me that she is with me and she gave me the confidence to come out of this and fight. I met my father-in-law for the first time in court. I was about to cry, but his reassuring gesture gave me confidence and he told me to stay strong. I was in Tihar for 27 days and till the time I was in Tihar, she was sleeping on the floor.”
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For the unversed, Sreesanth met Bhuvneshwari for the first time in Jaipur during a cricket match and fell in love. Bhuvneshwari hails from the Diwanpura royal family in Alwar, Rajasthan. The couple got married in 2013 — the same year Sreesanth was accused in the spot-fixing case.
