The story of Sreesanth

Right from the start of his cricketing career, Sreesanth has hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons. The Kerala pacer who rose to prominence with his performance in the inaugural T20 World Cup, which India won has been at the centre of various controversies in international cricket. Right from taunting Andre Nel and sending off Hashim Amla during India’s tour of South Africa in 2006 to deliberately shoulder barging England captain Michael Vaughan and bowling nasty beamers at Kevin Pietersen, Sreesanth has done it all. And it’s not that he hasn’t paid for it ! He has been fined several times for breaching the ICC’s code of conduct and his on-field behaviour during India’s 2007 tour of England even led to former England skipper Michael Atherton saying that Sreesanth should be banned from that series against England as he  had no control over his temper. And  who can forget the famous slap-gate controversy, wherein Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth after an Indian Premier League match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians in 2008. Sreesanth was spotted sobbing after the incident took place, but refused to say anything about Harbhajan Singh. But I guess that incident only made things worse for Sreesanth’s temper as in Australia that year, Sreesanth stated that he was going to maintain an aggressive attitude on the field.

Sreesanth had a long injury lay-off post the World Cup, which saw him training at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore , after which he returned strongly, performing well in the domestic circuit. He has been deemed by many as a God fearing and devoted cricketer but the recent fixing scandal in which he has been involved can well turn out to be one of his undoing. Arrested by the Mumbai police with fellow teammates Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, the three have been accused of being involved in spot fixing in at least three of this year’s IPL matches.

Sreesanth is alleged to have deliberately given away 14 runs in an over as per the demand of the bookies, who according to the Mumbai police, have connections with the underworld abroad. The players along with the ten bookies and a former Rajasthan Royal  team-mate.  Amit Singh who the police allege was a talent spotter for the bookies was brought to Delhi and remanded to 5-day police custody.For Sreesanth, this may well turn out to be his final controversy as if found guilty. the players may be banned for life as per the BCCI’s zero-tolerance policy. Maybe after that Sreesanth can pursue a career in singing and dancing which are one of his many off-field hobbies.