Shanthakumaran Sreesanth is one of the many exhilarating young players in India. He is a right-arm fast-medium-pace bowler, and also a right-handed tailender.
S Sreesanth, as he is better known, was born on February 6, 1983, in the southern state of Kerala, India. He represents the new breed of Indian cricketers who hail from far-flung regions, which in the past have been given the cold shoulder as far as talent-spotting was concerned. Incidentally, Kerala, his homestate, is revered for its sporting culture and has produced several Olympian athletes but has sadly had a dearth of international-quality cricketers. Sreesanth was to change all that. Sreesanth started his cricket career as a leg spinner. Later, he shifted to fast bowling. He was also selected for the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai.
Early on, his agility with the ball and his swinging deliveries caught the attention of Sreesanth’s elder brother who pushed him to try his hand at fast-bowling. Sreesanth made his first-class debut against Goa in the 2002-03 Ranji Trophy season, claiming 22 wickets in seven matches. He was selected for the South Zone in the 2002-03 Duleep Trophy. His excellent bowling helped him get selected for India-A side in a tour match against the visiting New Zealand. He became the first Kerala bowler to take a hat-trick in a Ranji Trophy game.
Sreesanth made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on October 25, 2005. He claimed his first two ODI wickets at the end of the match. He claimed 4/58 against Pakistan in the fifth ODI. His best bowling performance was against England in a home series where he took 10 wickets, including a career best 6/55 in April 2006. He was left out of the ICC Champions Trophy squad of 14 because of his disappointing economy rate.
Sreesanth made his Test debut against England at Nagpur in March 2006 and scalped 4 wickets for 95 runs. In the third Test against England he hauled 5 wickets and then earned his berth for the West Indies tour, where he again captured 5 wickets for 72 runs in the fourth Test at Jamaica. Playing against South Africa, Sreesanth bundled out the South Africans for 84 runs while returning with his best bowling figures 5 for 40. As India won that Test, Sreesanth won the Man of the Match award. Sreesanth made his T20 debut against South Africa at Johannesburg in December 2006. Sreesanth also performed brilliantly in T20 World Cup events in South Africa capturing some crucial wickets that turned the games in India’s favor. He represented Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League.
