Sreesanth

Full name: Shanthakumaran Sreesanth
Nicknmes: Gopu, Kerala express, The Prince of hat-tricks
Born: February 6, 1983, Kothamangalam, Kerala
Major teams: India, Kerala, Kerala Under-19s

Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm fast-medium

Test debut: India v England at Nagpur - Mar 1-5, 2006

ODI debut: India v Sri Lanka at Nagpur - Oct 25, 2005

Twenty20 debut: India v South Africa at Johannesburg - Dec 1, 2006

PROFILE
"To me, the find of the series for India has undoubtedly been Sreesanth and irrespective of what happens, this lad has the ability to go a long way and serve his country with merit and distinction." This is what Moin Khan said after the 3rd test at Multan. Blessed with unique capability to swing the ball late and generate sudden movement off the pitch, Sreesanth's rise has been quite rapid. Since making a debut he has usually been a regular member of the national team and at many times spearheaded the bowling attack.

Sreesanth was initially a leg-spinner and being a great fan of Anil Kumble, he tried to copy his bowling action. But his habit of bowling the yorkers forced him to convert to pace bowling. Sreesanth made his first class debut in the year 2002-03 against Goa. His fine bowling and large haul of wickets earned him place in the South Zone Team for the Duleep Trophy in the very same season- a feat accomplished by many few cricketers. But during a warm -up match against the touring New Zealand team he suffered a hamstring injury which kept him out for a month. But he returned with much more energy and claimed his first Ranji hat-trick against Himachal, also the first one for Kerala in Ranji Trophy ever. This also earned him the nickname The 'Prince of hat-tricks' among the Keralites.

In his international ODI debut in Oct, 2005, Sreesanth was a bit expensive during the opening overs but he later came back to take two wickets. He was subsequently dropped from the playing eleven before being recalled for the fourth, fifth and sixth ODI. But Sreesanth's good performances starting coming after the Tour of Pakistan in 2006 where in the last match he ended with a figures of 4/58. In the very next home series against England, Sreesanth earned his first man of the match award.

It took a long 5 months for Sreesanth to make a test debut after making his international debut. Sreesanth was included in the squad at the expense of Zaheer Khan for the Ist test at Nagpur against England in 2006. He recorded figures of 4/95 on his debut. After that he went to the tour of West Indies as the leading pace bowler. But it the tour of South Africa,2006 after which he rose to fame, helping India to score its first test win on South African soil. Besides this he has been fined by the ICC twice, once for breaching the ICC logo policy and the other time for sending South African Batsman Hashim Amla back after dismissing him. He has also been involved in a spat while batting with pacer Andre Nel, responding to the taunt of the fast bowler by charging the next delivery, hitting for a six and the most of it, running and swinging his bat after Nel to perform dance(Video can be seen below)

Besides cricket Sreesanth has varied talents and interests. He is an accomplished break dancer who has even won a national award for this in the eighth standard. He also good at playing football, table tennis and hockey. Also he is capable of speaking Tamil, Hindi and English besides his mother tongue Malayalam. Another fact about Sreesanth - he studies psychology at university when not playing cricket.

View his stats at http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/34274.html

Sreesanth swinging his bat