Sreesanth - A review of this turbulent Kerala Speedster

Sreesanth -
Is it a product to be reviewed?
How can a human being be a product?

Basic purpose of cricket match is to entertain the viewers, I am seeing each match as a product just like a movie and hence its characters also can be termed as products.

Any how this speedsters performance in his comeback test against Sri Lanka on a dead pitch deserves a review, for it truly pumped up the spirits of many cricket enthusiasts of India.

I have been watching this guy with utmost enthusiasm ever since he started making headlines in local newspapers and each of his actions or his families actions were traced with much vigour by the media. In him I saw a real life representation of the dreams which I cherished from my childhood of playing cricket along with national team, a kind of brotherhood since he belonged to my state, a kind of sympathy since I felt he will fade out soon amongst the bigwigs of the cricketing fraternity and above all the vigour with which he bowls.

Within no time success came in his stride, because of his bowling skills, but somehow his antics on the field was getting out of hand and soon even people of his home state started to curse him. But even when he was showing all his antics, I never felt real bad, because he was doing what he was supposed to do wonderfully well and when he danced midpitch after hitting an Andre Nel delivery for six, tears were rolling from my eyes, because I too was terribly disappointed when Andre Nel was abusing him after bowling a bouncer and hurling abuses at him. I don't think many Indians who has seen this one sequence live on TV may not have felt differently from what I experienced. This event eventhough initially appreciated by many, including the commentators was soon added to the negatives in his resume.

His staring at the opposition batsmen were at times looking odd because of the frequency with which he does it. Naturally when someone becomes famous, along with it the number of foes will increase. It seems like people who wanted to see his downfall was plotting a scheme and Sree helped them by creating new antics in the cricket field. I was surprised to see, when his home cricket association was also aiding his downfall and many press conferences were held just to tarnish his image. Felt pity for this guy, for he does not seem to have a godfather for making a comeback to his team and the plot against him seemed to intensify.

The inaugural IPL was seen as a boon for him and eventhough he was the second highest wicket taker, no body was seen appreciating him, because the Harbajan slap episode got the limelight more than his performance. It was real pity to see other people's contribution highlighted, who did not even do what Sree did with the ball in his hand.

Sree did not take part in most of the games of the second IPL because of an injury. Still he was one of the most discussed topic as is evident from the comment's section of fakeiplplayer's blog. People were busy in abusing him, making all sorts of negative comments and the interesting thing was that no one, even from Kerala was seen supporting him. Is it a matter of jealousy, or is it a matter of joining with the mass opinion, or does he really deserved to get all these negative appreciation.

Soon his coverage in press also was limited to only his antics and not about his performance. When he was selected for an English club and took wickets, the main news which figured was about the great Allan Donald's comment on Sree's emotional outbursts.

In the Renji Trophy matches which followed suit he did not make any notable performance in terms of wickets and so his entry back to Indian cricket team was not expected by many.

But agains all odds, he was selected to the National team for doing duty against the touring Lankans. He was not included in the first test and seeing the batting friendly conditions, it seemed that all bowlers love to be the twelth man rather than in the playing eleven. It even seemed like he will be given a chance in these dead pitches which is highly batting friendly, where no fast bowler is expected to take wickets, and based on his performance he could be ousted from the team permananently. So when he was inducted in the playing eleven for the second test no expectations where raised. But he bowled tremendously well and in good control. He bowled some beautiful deliveries which did not get him a wicket, but he was fortunate to get wickets in not so good deliveries. His performance resulted in turning the match in India's favour. As a cricket enthusiast I could not control my emotions when I was watching the highlights of this game and see this guy perform the way no one expected him to do.

He has a long way to go, if he does not get carried away by the recent success and by being careful for evading the plots by the foes around him.

Overall he is a good product, but the longevity is depended on the way he manages himself.