Classic Sreesanth comes to the party

Maybe it was getting rid of his ghastly facial fungus that did the trick. But all those detractors hurling abuse in the direction of Kerala’s Shanthakumaran Sreesanth when named as part of the Indian Test squad for the Sri Lanka series will be admitting, if they are honest, how they misdirected their comments.

On day two of the second Test at Green Park, as Sri Lanka battled unpredictable conditions, Sreesanth gave the impression of looking as if he had stepped from the pages of India’s most wanted. The attempt to grow a beard didn’t somehow fit with his persona. In 1982 several of England’s rebel squad members looked too as if they had forgotten their shaving kit in their rush to join the tour in South Africa.

Whether someone whispered in his ear that it didn’t look appropriate is another matter. When the clean-shaved fast bowler marked out his run up, the pinup boy looks were back and the fiery spirit that tore South Africa apart at the Wanderers in that famous victory was back. His six gun was blazing, eyes were full of fire and the visuals of him imploring the fieldsmen when they missed a catch, or the umpire turning down an appeal, were classic Sreesanth.

Temperamental he maybe, and smart with it, but he seems to have taken to heart the time spent with Allan Donald, who he regards as a type of guru (‘I have dreamed of meeting White Lightening,’ he said in 2006). He is a better bowler for it as well and the impact he has had on this game is that his six wickets so far in the two innings is quite a remarkable comeback and laid to waste Sri Lanka’s pre-tour boast that they would overcome the jinx of not having won a Test in India.

With 13 wickets falling in a day and only 217 runs scored, Sri Lanka are not only staring down the barrel, the last rites are not too far off either. Not that it was all Sreesanth who did much to take a remarkable haul of five first innings wickets in his comeback match. There were some horrendous strokes as well with the captain, Kumar Sangakkara, twice chopping the ball into his stumps off the edge of the bat.

The first innings effort was when he was attempting to drive though the covers only to stretch too far and commit the error. When Thilan Samaraweera did the same 10 runs later, the Nelson Bell tolled for the innings as the Sri Lanka media pet, Angelo Mathews was made to look yet again particularly out of his class as well as depth. Harbhajan Singh was just too clever and bowled him with a nicely flighted ball as the batsman’s footwork, what there was of it, indicated he was looking for the ball to spin.

Maybe the team’s so-called shadow coach, Chandika Harturusinghe can supply a few answers, only there is no genuine evidence that he has achieved anything. The same can be said for Stuart Law, the new assistant coach, appointed because he ‘knows the conditions’.

Sri Lanka should have been wary though of the confidence their media placed on how they would save the Test by overcoming the follow-on. The five wickets that Rangana Herath picked up for 12 runs on Wednesday that saw the Indian innings collapse in a grotesque heap with an unceremonious Wall Street like meltdown with six batsmen adding only 29 runs to the total, should have been warning enough.

Little wonder there was a lot of misplaced belief by Herath how the tourists would force India to bat again. Amazingly, having watched Sangakkara, Samaraweera and the novice Mathews fall the way they did, Mahela Jayawardene’s attempt the run the ball past Rahul Dravid was not the smart thing to do. He was out after trying a salvage operation with namesake Prasana Jayawardene when he charged debutant Pragyan Ojha to give the left-arm spinner his first Test wicket in what was a soft dismissal.

Their 60-run partnership was about as good as it was going to get with Prasana, who hasn’t had a Test he would like to remember becoming Sreesanth’s fifth wicket of the innings when he nicked the ball behind and didn’t enjoy at all the marching orders.

This though wasn’t placid Motera in Ahmedabad and a continually misfiring Ishant Sharma who was replaced by the Kerala king of rock. The pitch wasn’t doing all that much, just turning sharper and Pragyan Ojha is the ideal foil for Bhajji as Sreesanth is for Zaheer Khan.

There was certain déjà vu in the second innings when Mahela Jayawardene tried to work the ball past Dravid again in the lone slip position and the normally reliable fieldsman dropping a more difficult chance this time. Then came the hari kari moment of the innings with Sangakkara on the charge and Mahela had to go as well while Yuvraj Singh smartly threw to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the run out catastrophe took place.

As this was two or three minutes after Mahela’s second escape from the Dravid incident, and the score had advanced only one run, you start to wonder what the captain was thinking in such a desperate situation. And when Sangakkara did a lazy shuffle and edged the ball into his stumps five balls later the last post could be heard in Maitland Place.

Sri Lanka at 57 for four in their second innings are so far behind that it needs more than a Lord’s effort of 2006 and the rain that went with it to draw this game. And Sreesanth, who collected man of the match award at The Wanderers in that historic victory knows how his comeback has given India a chance to go 1-0 in the series with the Mumbai game remaining.