You do terrible things to life. Sometimes, life does the same to you. In between, there are battles you fight, that defines you. Good. Bad and gossip.
For Sreesanth, he has been a part of all these. Good. Bad. Gossip. Nevertheless, he has always been a hero. An occasional superhero for the country. A fallen hero after the spot-fixing but again, he eventually did get into films became the hero.
He is just everywhere. Cinema. Police. Prison. Politics. His life story had/has more drama than the films he was in. From the aggressive boy who gave everything on the field to the man who is still willing to get back to the team, the journey has been just… fascinating. I’m not sure if that’s the right word if I’m looking for but it does make sense a little bit.
He came into India’s Test scene in 2006. One can fast-track his journey on the domestic side, and his selection was special more because of the place he came from. Only a handful of people made it to the Indian team from his place. That’s one thing and the other is his bowling, of course.
When he is on a song, Sreesanth himself is poetry, more of a free verse. There is no usual pattern but just one thing, he had the wrist that most of the bowlers would die to have. The ball would listen to his song and goes the way he wants it to. The clock-like movement, the seam that moves backwards before landing, the ball that moves away on most occasions, moves in when it feels like doing so. There will be occasional random bounce that would kill wouldn’t take off like a plane but would just hit the crack and bounces right on the face. Ask Kallis.
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One of the best cricketers in the world, the man who has an excellent technique, the man who had ruled almost every bowler and made grounds all-round the world as his hunting den, had no answers for the this boy’s bouncer.
2010 Durban, 2nd Test. South Africa were cruising in the final innings while chasing 303. They were batting under a beautiful blue sky and 303 seems low considering the long batting attack the team had.
Before THAT ball, Sreesanth had already made two appearances. One to was when he got into a verbal altercation with Smith and the other was when he dismissed Smith and Amla. Smith ended his wicket by miscuing a pull shot while trying to answer Sreesanth with the bat. Amla chased wide delivery, giving away his wicket.
Despite all that, South Africa were still on top and had their best batter of the series at the crease, AB de Villiers and Kallis. He was batting at 17 after facing 50-odd deliveries. Sreesanth gets back to bowl yet another over. The boy with the headband ran in. Kallis would have read the delivery from his hand by now. Sreesanth moves, lands one. Kallis had shuffled towards his off-stump and was ready to pull the ball. He knew it was a bouncer. But now, usually, Bouncers moves like a flight. Most of the best players can predict the movement and can get their bat there on time, of course, there are times the players get outdone by the pace but not by something like this. This delivery moved like a rocket. More straight, upwards and not like a plane. The latter part of the Test match is usually the time where the pitch begins to develop cracks and Sreesanth had landed the ball in one of them.
Kallis, who had already picked up his shot for the delivery, knew it was something different and had no answer. Mission Abort, he would have thought and tried to go back to defend but it was just too quick to get back. As a result, Kallis had to jump, make a bend that looked like a mixture of letter “C” and a bow.
The ball kissed his gloves and went right into the hands of Sehwag who was at the gully. If delivery can outdo a player like Kallis, it is certainly a special one. Sreesanth did and that was the beginning of the end of South Africa’s downfall and India registered a win.
Sreesanth kept doing stuff like that consistently and made a few legends his bunnies. Six times he got rid of Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers. Kevin Pietersen fell five times to him and in fact, he had tasted Lara’s wicket twice.
Of course, who would forget his invisible spank with the bat after hitting a six off Nel?
World Cups? Anybody?
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When he was having the transformation from a boy who had played for India to the man who became a regular to the Indian side, he had the controversies too. While played had issues with outsiders, there were times Sreesanth frustrated his own teammates. He was a difficult character to handle and being his own PR guy didn’t help too.
Being expressive is one thing. Being aggressive is another. What Sreesanth had was totally different. He would throw the ball at the batters if they hit the delivery back to him. No matter what was the score. Be it 60 for 6 or 500 for no-loss. Sreesanth would always stare, tries to throw the ball back to the batters. His send-offs were even worse if you are in the opposition. He would sledge anyone no matter who he is. No matter if he is playing or not.
He even had issues with his own teammates. He had to kiss and make up after involving in a slap gate. He had frustrated his captain whenever he took time for his rituals before bowling. There were times umpires were frustrated too. It was more like him against the world and he had no one but himself to blame for all the things. He was probably one of the loneliest members in the cricket team. Still, he kept going and kept playing because of his game… That wrist. Something people would die for.
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Sreesanth’s life incidents kept changing. He had transformation too as a man, as a player and of course, his body. Nevertheless, his fighting attitude never changed a bit. He is still the same person who gives everything on the field and would fight to have his chances to play and is racing against his age today.
Years after he came back to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, things were different. People saw a mellower version of a man who was there to enjoy the game rather than to prove any point. His run-up got a bit slower, his speed isn’t how it is used to be, there isn’t that banana swing he used to get.
However, there is a bit of old Sreesanth in everything. He had a bit of all and a bit more too. He is now the Beloved Bhai to the whole young team who looks up to him. Sreesanth in his game mode, on the other hand, kept running towards the keeper, the bowler to discuss fielding positions, gave a pat and words of encouragement to the bowlers and constantly kept shouting from his fielding position.
Of course, he had those stares and walks too in the latter part of the tournament but it’s more from frustration after a pretty ordinary spell. In this same situation, that old Sreesanth would have gone on to abuse the batters, would have reacted worse. He did have a tiny incident with little Jaiswal whom he then took to Twitter to praise.
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Sreesanth might not be the best in the business now. He might not get into any IPL teams. Indian team return is still a long shot. He, however, will always be that man who never gave up on his passion and kept coming back even after being knocked million times. Sometimes by his rivals. Sometimes by his friends. Most of the time by himself.
