Understanding Sreesanth: Why he may have given in to temptation

“He is the John McEnroe of Indian cricket. People see his behaviour on the field and automatically assume that is the way he is in real life,” says K N Raghavan, former International cricket umpire, who has known Sreesanth for the last twelve years. Reluctant to condemn him until the law of the land says so, Raghavan finds it difficult to believe that a cricketer who has come up the hard way, belongs to a God-fearing middle class family and is known for his commitment to the game, will sell himself for a few lakh rupees. “If he inaugurates two shops in Kochi, he will make more than 40 lakh rupees. Why should he do this for money,” asks Ibrahim (name changed on request), who has also played with Sreesanth. Which begs the question, if money was not the attraction, what forced Sreesanth, if he turns out to be guilty, to indulge in spot fixing. Those who have known him during his growing up years in Kochi point to a split personality within Sreesanth. [caption id=“attachment_796297” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sreesanth has always been an emotional character. BCCI[/caption] “He is a strange character, extremely emotional, who will do things at the spur of the moment,” explains T C Mathew, the secretary of the Kerala Cricket Association. “When I was the selector for the under-13 Kerala team, he told me that he will play for India one day and sincerely worked towards that.” Others in the cricket association recall that Sreesanth even during his formative years was quarrelsome and intimidating on the field and genuinely believed that this show of aggression motivated him to perform better. He had the temerity to sledge Sachin Tendulkar during a Challenger Trophy match in 2005, even before he had earned an India cap. Run-ins with umpires, fellow and rival players and being summoned by the match referee have been part of Sreesanth’s cricketing CV. While his international tantrums - be it against Mathew Hayden, Andrew Symonds or Andre Nel - are well documented, even his domestic fixtures have been replete with issues of indiscipline. In 2010, when Sreesanth was removed as Kerala Ranji team captain, he threatened to play for another state. When he patched up with the KCA, he ended up sledging Dinesh Karthick (playing for Tamilnadu) and was suspended for two matches. His friends however, say Sreesanth stood out and got into the news for the wrong reasons because Indian cricketers aren’t known to be a tribe that displays in-your-face aggression. There are many in Kochi who are more than willing to give a `very well-behaved boy’ certificate to Sreesanth, off the field. They speak of him as respectful to senior cricketers, humble, even given to touching the feet of elders. He is the one who recommended Sanju Samson’s name to Rajasthan Royals. It is almost as if another Sreesanth, not seen by the public, is being spoken of here. “Sree will do anything for his friends,’’ says a tearful Savithri Devi, Sreesanth’s mother. “When we had bought him a cricketing kit for the first time, he returned home without it on the first day itself. He had given it off to another boy who had been selected to play a match.” “Sreesanth was not ideal role model material but it is understandable that many budding cricketers were motivated by his success. After all, he was the first big cricketer to emerge from Kerala, an icon,” says Mathew. Being axed from the team and injuries seemed to have sobered Sreesanth a bit. Close friends admit to having seen him writing “I will change”, “I will behave well”, in his personal diary, almost as if he was engaged in a mission to reform himself. But if he was also carrying on parallel business with the bookies, as alleged, it seems as though Sreesanth’s right hand did not know what his left hand was doing. Or was he deceiving himself all along, putting on a mask on his own face so that he saw a `good’ Sreesanth in the mirror? The story about M S Dhoni also indicates a similar point. When he was not selected for the one-dayers against England early this year, he made it a point to tell Kerala cricket officials that he does not have a bad equation with Dhoni. But at home, he seemed to have spun a different tale for the benefit of his parents. This is borne out by the fact that his emotional father initially blamed Dhoni for conspiring to fix Sreesanth. Cricketers who have shared the dressing room with Sreesanth point out that he often sang patriotic songs and his band called S36 (Sreesanth’s jersey number is 36) had even released an album called `Desh’, with Sreesanth writing the lyrics for the title track `Desh’ and `Jaago India’. As Sreesanth spends time in the Delhi Police cooler now, doubts obviously arise if he was the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde of Indian cricket. Sreesanth, when he emerged, offered corporates in Kerala an option to choose a brand ambassador and model different from the Mollywood spread of Mohanlal, Mammootty and Jayaram. There was a time when his face on Muthoot Group hoardings and billboards was the first thing passengers saw when they landed at Kochi airport, as he was their brand ambassador. The endorsements dwindled once he was more out of the team than in. Now in the wake of the scandal, even the Kerala government has removed him as a brand ambassador for its lottery scheme. His business ventures did not taste success - the `Bat and Ball’ restaurant in Bangalore and `Music Cafe’ his music venture along with his playback singer brother-in-law Madhu Balakrishnan. His sole source of income was the $400,000 worth contract he had with Rajasthan Royals. Was the absence of easy money to spend and the need for a flashy lifestyle then indeed a factor in Sreesanth maintaining neither line nor length during the IPL? The alleged presence of a woman with him when he was arrested in Mumbai also has set tongues wagging about Sreesanth’s love for a colourful life. Those who have known him point to his habit of bragging about conquests of a different kind to junior cricketers. There are reports that bookie Jiju Janardhanan had attempted to record an MMS of Sreesanth, leading to suspicion whether the cricketer was also being blackmailed with incriminating stuff. His family understandably wants to believe none of this. “Who will marry him now, with all these reports of a girl with him,” bemoans his conservative mother. And in what is typical of many superstitious Indian families, Sreesanth’s folks point out that he is under the influence of Shani (Saturn) till May 23. Almost blaming it all on that distant planet and not on the errant son. Whatever the stars may foretell about Sreesanth, there are many in Kerala who feel that once the BCCI fixes the final nail on Sreesanth’s cricketing career, he could follow in Mohammed Azharuddin’s footsteps and turn a politician. His experience in sledging may just prove an asset in this field.