In deep trouble now, Sreesanth should bowl straight and tell the truth

Kochi airport – lounge – about two months ago. I, exhausted after a three-day shoot – happy to be with my tea and newspaper and he, in one corner, alone. I only noticed him when I just happened to look in that direction – totally alone he was – IPL player, very recent India star. Now seven years ago, he tore the South Africans apart – in South Africa, he leapt and danced and twirled his bat and snarled and sang but, above all, he moved the ball out at 140 k’s – and he made the mighty South Africans snarl in reply, and then cringe – seven years ago and we beat them. The now number one Test side, we beat them on their home turf, their home jungle – and two months ago, he sat alone in the Kochi airport lounge – no one even wished him – and he was in his home state – no one even looked in his direction. We made a mistake back then – those seven years ago – a big, big mistake. We took his anger and his dancing and his snarling and his wickets and his speed and his aggression, and we said that they were not ‘right,’ they were not ‘Indian,’ they were what the Aussies and the Proteas did, but not we Indians – and the bowler, the bowling, was never the same again. [caption id=“attachment_809205” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Who let Sreesanth down? Getty Images[/caption] There were bursts of bowling here and there, but never again the sustained success. He came from a part of India where very few Test cricketers have ever come from… He was his own man – a man of dreams and fantasies and deep energy which he only knew existed. He needed friends and guidance and a coach who cared for him – maybe he distanced himself; maybe he felt hunted and haunted; maybe he tried to do too much, on and off the field – but in an era where right-arm fast bowlers for India who can last more than two series are a rarity, surely he should have been cared for and nurtured. And then the injury – the mysterious injury – which we never got full details about until the treatment was almost over. His feet were in bad, bad shape. Why do we hide the injuries to our fast bowlers? Let us know what is wrong – what harm can it do – where is Aaron, for example? But, no – the man I saw sitting all alone in the Kochi airport lounge battled through his injury and the treatment in media silence… As I was leaving for my flight, I went up to him – before I could even introduce myself, he was on his feet, greeting me in Hindi. His boyish face was alight with eager joy – we talked for about two minutes – at the most. I said he was looking fit and raring to go – he smiled and said that he needed the blessings of seniors like myself – and I watched him and he was leaping and jumping in South Africa again, twirling his bat, his words, his future. He was running in with that loping ease, and as he delivered an outswinger with that unique, arm-centered action of his, another South African bit the dust – as even Sachin had done against him in a match in India – and on that boyish face the snarl appeared, the eyeballs clinched and glared – even as they had done against Sachin – and we were on our way to victory in South Africa. He smiled at me, shyly, and asked what had brought me to Kochi… I said, smiling, that I had come to see him. All this in Hindi. And then we parted – he did not sit down until I had actually left the lounge. We lost him somewhere along the way – we lost him, when we needed him most – when he needed us most – In deep trouble now, Sreesanth should bowl straight and tell the truth – Pitch the truth up, and lead us out of this world we have created from greed and revenge –