If he is guilty, Sreesanth should do a Hansie Cronje

Can somebody’s cricketing skills atrophy so fast in three years that he becomes a liability for the Indian team and finally a disgrace to the game itself? That too when one is young and still evolving in the game? Unfortunately, that is the story of Sreesanth, one of the best (medium) pace and swing bowlers India has ever produced. A little over three years ago, Indian skipper MS Dhoni was all praise for Sreesanth’s unique ability to reverse-swing the ball, when he helped him beat the visiting Sri Lankans by an innings and 144 runs. “I feel he is one of the best bowlers of reverse swing along with Zaheer Khan. Good to see him in action," Dhoni reportedly said after the match. [caption id=“attachment_813109” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sreesanth apparently felt Dhoni was keeping him out of the Indian team. BCCI[/caption] “Sree bowled really well. I don’t think anybody expected a seamer to run away with a five-wicket haul, but he did,” he said. But now? Dhoni seems to have completely ignored him and Sreesanth has more or less distanced himself from the team. He became a loaner, a loose cannon and finally a victim of his own waywardness. For the national media, he was yet another flash in the pan or a small-town joke; but for the sports journalists in Kerala, who have seen him up close for years, he is a case of wasted talent. Only Saurav Ganguly had echoed similar sentiments. A senior sports journalist in Kerala, who has known Sreesanth for a decade, met him about a month ago for a TV interview along with the only other Test cap in the state, Tinu Yohannan. The journalist had breakfast with the cricketer and his family before setting up his camera and lights. “For the first time, he appeared very dejected” the journalist said. “He was really down. And he was angry with Dhoni for pushing him into this state of neglect.” Apparently, he firmly believed that it was Dhoni who was blocking his return to the Indian team. Perhaps that is the reason why his father reacted very angrily and alleged that Dhoni and Harbhajan conspired against his son. His father apologised later saying that he blurted out in a state of emotional disturbance. Perhaps other cricketers know what happened between Dhoni and Sreesanth. Or perhaps there was nothing other than Dhoni becoming exhausted by the pacer’s recklessness and poor performances. Dhoni was indeed annoyed with Sreesanth’s antics and wayward behaviour and he hasn’t minced words either. While praising Sreesanth in 2009 for his performance against Sri Lanka, Dhoni said that Sreesanth had “definitely cut down (on his antics). Hopefully he would maintain that. As long as he does not cross the line, it’s good not just for him personally but also for the team. He was aggressive but in a different way.” On another occasion, Dhoni said that it was okay if Sreesanth irked the opposition, but not his own team. Both cricket lovers and journalists in his home-state are equally puzzled about happened to the Sreesanth they knew as an exceptional talent. The boy who had a remarkable seam position and who could swing the ball at pace. “We haven’t seen anybody else in the state with this natural ability. The only other guy who could do this was a boy from Tellicherry,” said one of the former selectors in the state. “You cannot train yourself to get such a good seam position.” While nobody from Kerala had made it to the national test squad other than Yohannan, the son of a former Olympian, played just three matches. Sreesanth had everything going for him because he was such a gifted bowler. In the days before the IPL, getting into the national squad, that too from a state such as Kerala, was not easy at all. His training at the MRF academy in Chennai, a not-so-long domestic season and the subsequent attention by Greg Chappell, who Sreesanth considered as the only coach who cared for him, made his upward mobility very easy. According to people close to him, of late Sreesanth was not greatly optimistic about his international cricketing future because he thought Dhoni was out to block him for reasons best known to him. He had given himself a deadline of November and had decided to give upon cricket if he was not selected for the South African tour. In fact, it was the 2006 tour of South Africa that made him a pace-and-swing star. Purely riding on his destructive bowling, India had won its first ever win on South African soil. The series also saw his on-field antics reaching ugly levels so early in his career. He had told his friends that if he is not selected for the South African tour, he would concentrate on films and business. Perhaps that’s why he had signed up for some strange business propositions including bottled water and was shortlisting actresses and models. All his business ventures in the past, including a cricket-memorabilia laden bed-and-breakfast set up in Bangalore and Kochi, had failed miserably. Apparently, his father was worried that some of the friends who always hovered around him would spoil him. And one of them turned out to be an alleged bookie who either lived off the cricketer or had a mutually beneficial relationship with him. Perhaps it was desperation, a competitive dressing room and a lack of psychological support that drove him to the stupidity of spot-fixing. Many probably hadn’t noticed that Sreesanth was indeed bitter and dejected during the current IPL season. In an interview with Ravi Shastri during one of the IPL matches, for which he was sitting outT, he said that perhaps he should bowl the same “boring” line and length again and again, alluding to the stump-to-stump bowling that his Royals team-mates were trying. Perhaps he thought that he was still a star and a wicket-taking bowler. For Sreesanth, a comeback to cricket is now impossible. His deep desire to reach the 100-wicket mark in Test cricket will be an unfulfilled dream. But he needs to come back because he has to face the prospect of life. His home state seems to have lost interest in him. The same media that celebrated him as a hero is now slamming him with sleaze. The feeble effort (apparently motivated by his family) at mobilizing public support in Kochi was a damp squib. As Tom Alter wrote in Firstpost, he should now play straight. He should tell it all. If Sreesanth is indeed guilty, he should do a Hansie Cronje. If he is not, he should take on the establishment and take everyone with him.