WATCH: Sreesanth celebrates his 1st wicket in first-class cricket after nine years; 'I was just overjoyed'

Sreesanth played 27 Tests, 53 ODIs, and 10 T20Is for India before facing a life ban for his involvement in the IPL spot-fixing scandal of 2013.

He may have attracted no bids in the recent IPL mega auction but pacer S Sreesanth is making his presence felt in the domestic circuit. The veteran bowler picked up his first wicket in Ranji Trophy after nine long years and was cloud nine. The 39-year-old Kerala player picked up the wicket of Aryan Bora in the game against Meghalaya and gave his "Pranaam" to the cricket pitch. He finished with figures of 2 for 40 in his 11.5 overs in the first innings but did not pluck any wickets in the second innings.

S Sreesanth in action  (Twitter)

Kerala won the Ranji game against Meghalaya by a comprehensive margin of an innings and 166 runs, which saw Ponnan Rahul (147) and Rohan Kunnummal (107) reach the three-figure mark. On the bowling front, Basil Thami and Jalaj Saxena picked up four and three wickets respectively to bowl Meghalaya out for just 191 in the second innings.

“Now that’s my 1st wicket after 9 long years..gods grace I was just over joyed and giving my Pranaam to the wicket .. #grateful #cricket #ketalacricket #bcci #india #Priceless,” Sreesanth captioned the video of his celebration.

Sreesanth, a part of India's World Cup-winning squad in 2011, didn't feature in Kerala's second Elite Group A fixture against Gujarat and it remains to be seen whether the paceman will get an opportunity against Madhya Pradesh.

Sreesanth played 27 Tests, 53 ODIs, and 10 T20Is for India before facing a life ban for his involvement in the IPL spot-fixing scandal of 2013. But he was keen on returning to professional cricket after his life ban got reduced to seven years in August of 2019. The paceman had said that he was ready to give it his all and believed he had another five to seven years of cricket left in him.

His reduced life ban, which got over in September 2021, eventually opened doors for his return to the game. Sreesanth last year returned to competitive cricket when he represented Kerala in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game against Puducherry. He celebrated his comeback with the wicket of opponent batter Fabid Ahmed and registered the figures of 29/1 in his four-over quota.

The right-arm pacer had also registered his name for the recent IPL mega auction but attracted no bids. Sreesanth had a base price of ₹50 lakh. But his Kerala teammates Basil Thampi and KM Asif found buyers in Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. Thampi was picked up by Mumbai for ₹30 lakh while Asif headed to Chennai for ₹20 lakh.