Sreesanth Saga

India and Rajasthan Royals fast bowler Shantakumaran Sreesanth has been handed a life ban by the BCCI today for his involvement in spot-fixing in IPL 2013.  At 30, he was already a has-been, someone whose last few headlines had been for bizarre behaviour rather than on-field excellence. Then, you think of the Wanderers less than seven years ago, and logic exits the room, replaced by lingering sadness. You think of the madcap celebration after a six off Andre Nel, and contrast that with  the image taken from the court in May, of a young man being taken in like a common criminal. The numbers reveal as much as they conceal – 87 wickets from 27 Tests, at an average of 37.59. He was neither consistent nor reliable. What those figures don’t tell you, though, is how he could change a game. At the end of the South African tour in January 2007, Allan Donald said that he had not come across any bowler who could hit the pitch with seam bolt upright ball after ball as Sreesanth had done at the Wanderers [he took 8 for 99].

On the next tour of South Africa, he had Jacques Kallis contorting like a marionette on a string in Durban as India won by 87 runs. History, revisionist or otherwise, doesn’t view the Chappell [coaching] years with much fondness, but the one thing that can’t be disputed is that he came closer than anyone else to harnessing Sreesanth’s full potential. When he got carried away and resorted to Malcolm Marshall impersonations and other futile experiments, Chappell would be in his ear asking: “Were you Good Sree or Bad Sree?” For Chappell, Good Sree meant keeping it simple – pitching it on the fourth stump and getting swing away from the right-hander.

He was a lone kid in the entire dressing room. None of his teammates had a good relationship with him. His family didn’t really help either. As the media in Kerala made him out to be the next big thing, those closest to him opened their doors to the cameras and microphones instead of slamming them firmly shut. With those that should have known what was best for him becoming part of a tawdry rent-a-quote industry.

Sreesanth has said that he will challenge the decision of BCCI in the court, but the swing bowler that India could have got is lost and lost for ever. A sad day in the history of Indian Cricket.