He is at once the star and the boy next door, just he is simultaneously the awe-inspirer and the nagging irritant. What he is not, though, is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
With S Sreesanth, what you see is generally what you get. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he typifies the new Indian cricketer, confident bordering on the cocky and unafraid to give back as good as he gets. He is a wonderful talent, a work in progress but already forcing the cricket world to sit up and take notice. When he is all focus and puts mind over matter, he can compete with the best in the business. If only he could keep his tantrums in check!
The line between being aggressive and being confrontational is a very thin one. In his exuberance, Sreesanth has dangerously flirted with the latter in his bid to be overwhelmed by the former, and while his bowling has received rave reviews from all-comers, his petulance too has come under the microscope on more than one occasion.
More of that later. Sreesanth is the pride of a State that has struggled to unearth a cricketing role model. It is amazing what impact his rise has had on young kids. Kerala had very little time for cricket less than three years back; today, Sreesanth has changed the sporting landscape here as interest in cricket has skyrocketed like never before.
Adoring fans
In front of his family, friends and a plethora of adoring fans, the 24-year-old will be the cynosure at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium during Tuesday's second one-dayer against Australia. “It feels very good,” Sreesanth told Deccan Herald at the Kochi airport on Sunday morning. “I played here against England last year, but this time it's going to be fun because it is an Australia game. They are the best team, so it's the best challenge. I cannot ask for more.
“I still remember the last Australia vs India game here, in 1998. On that occasion, Sachin paaji got five for 32 and helped us win the match. I was sitting in the gallery with a couple of my friends and enjoying the match. This time, I am one among the players! I am looking forward to it.”
Sreesanth is also happy to admit that, in 2005 when India played Pakistan, he was a ball boy. And proud that in the space of two and a half years, he has made the remarkable transition to a more than occasional match-winner with the ball, as well.
His antics on the field too have been more than occasional, the most recent infringement attracting a 25 percent match-fee fine for excessive appealing in the Twenty20 World Cup semifinal against the Aussies. “There are times when you go overboard, that's what people say of me,” Sreesanth conceded, clearly having taken note of his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's public censures.
“I don't hide my emotions. But now, after getting all this unwanted attention, I don't want to miss a game for the country. I don't want to sit down in the backwaters and enjoy fishing. I want to be playing cricket; when India is playing, I would love to play for the country as long as I am doing well. If I have to change for the good, I will change.
“If the change is for the good and it is helping the team, then I will do it -- anything for the team. It is not an individual game, cricket is a team game.”
New NCA chairman Ravi Shastri sat Sreesanth down after the Trent Bridge Test earlier in the summer, impressing upon him the need to stay disciplined on the park. “That felt very good,” Sreesanth acknowledged. “It shows people are keen for me to do well, and that they have faith in me. I have been doing meditation and stuff, I am working things out on my own. You must have noticed that in the last two games, I have been more composed and controlled. Hopefully, I am getting there!”
Composed he most certainly was when he took the catch at short fine-leg that sealed India's triumph in the Twenty20 final against Pakistan. “People keep asking me what would have happened if I had dropped the catch. But hey, I caught it, didn't I?!”
So you did, Sree. As history will testify.
