TROUBLED JOURNEY

Cult of Sreesanth - good, bad and the ugly

by Aayush Puthran • Last updated on

"Sreesanth had mentors, but those were wrong mentors" - Ramesh, KCA game development manager © Getty

"We Mallusare docile people. Sreesanthis too flashy, he doesn't represent us," a fan told me, citing the example of how even the Kochi crowd booed the cricketer during an India-Australia ODI in 2007. The incident had taken place less than a year after his sensational performance in South Africa and his heroics in the inaugural World T20, which had just gotten over. And the barbs were coming at him from his home-town crowd.

It's a strange case in Kerala. There has been no bigger name emerging from the state in cricketing circles; not even close. Tinu Yohannan is quite a popular figure, but other than the fact that he is the first international cricketer from the state, his exploits are among the least-remembered in the television era. Sanju Samson, for all the hype and good show in IPL, has figured in only a solitary international game. Thus, even minus all the drama that surrounds him, Sreesanth is too big a figure in Kerala cricket to ignore.

Another fan recalls the Sreesanth hype when he burst on to the scene. "He was played up big time in the media. Everything that he did got covered by local news papers and channels, especially after he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar."

Jayesh George, a former player and current secretary of KCA, has seen him evolve as a person and a cricketer since he was playing Under-13 cricket for Ernakulam District Cricket Club. "Once he wears the whites, he loves the game. Even if his father is at the other side, he will bowl bouncers."

Sourav Ganguly was once amused as to how a pacer managed to emerge from a place like Kochi, which he termed a 'furnace'. Sreesanth simply said it was the love for bowling bouncers that turned him from a spinner to a pacer.

He grew up the ranks pretty quickly. JK Mahendra, a former captain, recalls seeing him when he played for MRF in the early 2000s. "There were three Kerala pacers in that team. I had said then that he will play for India and Matrabhoomi(a popular Malayalam newspaper) ran a headline stating that he is an 'India product'. And within a short while he was playing for India."

He became the most popular cricketing figure to emerge from the state. Nobody before or after managed to match that stardom. With the ball, however, his show oscillated from erratic to brilliant. And while at the latter, he was as good as any produced by India. It was no surprise that for the current lot of cricketers playing for the state, he was someone they looked up to.

Jayesh narrates how Sreesanth coming back and playing for Kerala became something that young cricketers would look forward to. "He's a nice human being, he helps a lot," he says. "I have seen him after he came back from an India series to Cochin, his kit was all open. All the young players went to Ernakulam and took whatever they wanted, everything was donated. He would take them to restaurants (to treat). Everyone was happy when Sreesanth was in the Ranji Trophy side."

But while his success had ensured Kerala was spoken more of in the cricketing world, his attitude had come in for severe criticism from the people of state itself. Brash and aggressive, he was quite a character. Emotional outbursts were many, and on a cricket field, you didn't know what would tick him off and he would break into an attention-seeking act. For as brilliant a bowler he was, he would call for the limelight for the wrong reasons.

"We would look forward to him playing and kept a track of his performances in the first few years," a fan says. "But because of his antics, after a few years he had quite a few detractors."

A business partner of Sreesanth notes: "People of Kerala cannot grasp that someone could change their lifestyle overnight and be flashy."

Sreesanth's sudden rise was something that Kerala cricket wasn't ready for. And when it happened, Mahendra believes enough wasn't done to mentor him, which proved to be the biggest reason behind Sreesanth's indisciplined ways getting to him.

"He is a very talented bowler, but unfortunately Kerala Cricket Association could not mentor him," he said. "There was no mentor behind him. If he had a good mentor - a senior cricketer, more senior than Tinu, because both of them played around the same time, someone of the bigger stature, who had played for the country or had Balan Pandit been fit and alive, it would have helped.

"If Sreesanth has missed any opportunities in life, I don't entirely blame the boy. We have to take the blame as mentors. I wish Kerala cricket had thought about it."

S Ramesh, a former Kerala captain and the current game development manager of KCA, partially disagrees with him and adds, "Nobody thought he will reach that level so suddenly. He had mentors, but those were wrong mentors. He had mentors, local people, who were doing everything for him. But he didn't have the right managers. Maybe he didn't get the right kind of advice, I don't know. I wasn't here at that point of time."

Sreesanth has continued to fight, claiming innocence, trying desperately to wash off the image of a fallen hero. ©

Even as he wasn't the most popular figure even during his peak fandom, there were plenty who disliked him. And once he was accused in the 2013 spot-fixing scandal, there was transgression from dislike to hate. It was an association that people didn't want. However, there were those who felt Sreesanth was being made a scapegoat.

"When the evidences were leaked, it became obvious that Sreesanth was caught taking money," a fan states. "While there was no sympathy, we felt that he was made a scapegoat and the others got away." And when the Delhi High Court order came, acquitting him, there it added to the sentiment that was resonating - If [Mohammad] Amir was getting to make a comeback even after being proven guilty, why was Sreesanth serving a life ban despite being acquitted?"

Even the association, while doing it's best to bring Sreesanth back in action, distanced itself publicly from supporting him.

Jayesh, however, refuses allegations that KCA hasn't done enough for Sreesanth. "We were always supporting Sreesanth. We went to Delhi when the court case was on. Even when the ban was lifted by the Kerala High Court, he directly came to my office. We had a long discussion, Tinu was also there. We were just thinking how to bring him back. He met Whatmore, had a fitness session and we all thought he can come back in the third match or something. He went to SRMC, we had all those things, but then the revised order came. It's not true that KCA has not supported Sreesanth. We supported him and he knows that. He has never said anything against KCA."

"KCA has only a limited role to play here," he added. "It's all BCCI. We can only appeal to BCCI to lift the ban or be a little lenient. Whatever the parent body's decision is, we have to follow. Even in the court we were silent, because it was the parent body's decision."

Sreesanth has continued to fight, claiming innocence, trying desperately to wash off the image of a fallen hero.

"He is a very nice boy, a very helpful boy," Mahendra, who has been closely associated with him for more than a decade, says. "As far as money is concerned, I don't think he has got the inclination to cheat anybody. He is a boy who gives money. He has helped a lot of young cricketers and friends to study or to work. He has given a lot of money as charity. But discipline is also very important.

"He has won two World Cups. He is a legend who can never be forgotten by Kerala. He could have been instrumental in building many more careers in Kerala. He has inspired cricketers. Had he been mentored and had he not gotten indulgent into some of the things...

"When money comes in, you need to be mentored. He gets carried away more than anything. Money makes you... It is purely what happens with you in the outside world. Every cricketer has gone through that phase, but they have been mentored. Take the case of Robin Uthappa. He was mentored by Pravin Amre and he mellowed down. I'm glad they (KCA) have Whatmore now. Had they had someone like him 10 years back, things would have been different, Sreesanth would have still been a part of the Indian team. I would say Kerala Cricket Association has lapsed in that path."

Whether loved or hated, Sreesanth was Kerala's biggest superstar, but surely not the best role model. And the effect has trickled down. The current lot of players are all brought up looking up to Sreesanth during their growing up years, and for many, he has become a case of what you should be not. And just when another case of indiscipline cropped up in the form of Samson, who was the next big cricketer to emerge from the state, it was nipped in the bud.

"We never had a good role model," Ramesh explains. "Sreesanth was never a good role model, but everyone was inspired by him. But he couldn't influence. He was away for Tests, he was always in trouble, then he had other issues going on. That's why he rarely played for us. And then when he started playing for us, they stopped him.

But he adds that because of Sreesanth's fame, Kerala has managed to produce the current crop of pacers. "It's because of him that we have players like Basil Thampi and Sandeep Warrier," he adds. Even the likes of Nidheesh and Sachin Baby continue to train with him time and again.

Ramesh believes it was this attitude which got him into trouble that helped Sreesanth scale the heights that he did, unlike other cricketers from the state, and also aiding him in fighting a battle which is turning lonelier by the day. "He had a totally different thinking," he says. "That's why he kept on coming back. Otherwise, he wouldn't have survived. Tinu was very soft and he ended up playing only a handful of matches. That (aggression) is what made him, and is what is helping him fight."

And while the court battle goes on, and Sreesanth continues to make random emotional outbursts against the treatment by the board, he is trying his hand out at various things - be it acting or politics. He did fare well in the recent elections, but lost to Shashi Tharoor, while contesting from Thiruvananthapuram from a BJP ticket.

Despite all that has transpired, a sense of affinity by the locals towards him is apparent. This love-hate relationship with Sreesanth has left many tight-lipped. It's a topic not many are willing to speak about openly; a knowing smile is all that greets you in response.

"As a cricket fan, I don't want to watch Sreesanth back in action in the game in any form - as a coach, player or administrator," a fan says. "But I hope his social life is not troubled, and he gets to pursue other avenues in life."

© Cricbuzz

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