Shanthakumaran Sreesanth

India

Full name Shanthakumaran Sreesanth

Born February 6, 1983, Kothamangalam, Kerala

Current age 29 years 10 days

Major teams India, Asia XI, Kerala, Kerala Under-19s,Kings XI Punjab, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Warwickshire

Also known as Gopu

Playing role Bowler

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	27	40	13	281	35	10.40	539	52.13	0	0	38	4	5	0
ODIs	53	21	10	44	10*	4.00	121	36.36	0	0	2	0	7	0
T20Is	10	3	2	20	19*	20.00	14	142.85	0	0	4	0	2	0
First-class	69	93	29	593	35	9.26	1351	43.89	0	0			16	0
List A	82	36	15	127	33	6.04	285	44.56	0	0			9	0
Twenty20	53	17	10	72	19*	10.28	91	79.12	0	0	13	0	9	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	27	50	5419	3271	87	5/40	8/99	37.59	3.62	62.2	4	3	0
ODIs	53	52	2476	2508	75	6/55	6/55	33.44	6.07	33.0	2	1	0
T20Is	10	9	204	288	7	2/12	2/12	41.14	8.47	29.1	0	0	0
First-class	69		12336	7251	201	5/40		36.07	3.52	61.3	8	6	0
List A	82		3874	3690	104	6/55	6/55	35.48	5.71	37.2	3	1	0
Twenty20	53	52	1062	1476	45	3/29	3/29	32.80	8.33	23.6	0	0	0

Profile

For three seasons, Sreesanth was hardly anything more than an answer to a trivia question - who is the only Kerala bowler to have taken a Ranji Trophy hat-trick ? His rise, though, was rapid, and since he played for a weak side, unnoticed. Not too many bowlers get selected for the Duleep Trophy in their first season, like Sreesanth did in 2002-03 after snapping up 22 wickets in his first seven games. His progress was halted owing to a hamstring injury in the following year, but he returned stronger, with a more side-on action and increased pace, and a superb display in the Challenger Trophy, in 2005, propelled him to the national squad for the Sri Lanka series. In the last game of his impressive debut season, he snapped up 6 for 55 against England. Idiosyncratic, with an aggressive approach - to the stumps and the game - he can be expensive in one-dayers, but is also a wicket-taking bowler. He does it in Tests, too - in Antigua in June 2006 he fired out Ramnaresh Sarwan and Brian Lara (for 0) in successive overs, and then took five wickets in Jamaica and played a key role in bowling India to a historic triumph. The year was one of several highlights, including a haul of eight wickets against South Africa in Johannesburg, which helped India win their first Test in the country. However, things turned sour two years later in the inaugural IPL, when he was involved in a spat with Harbhajan Singh, who slapped him at the end of a match. Sreesanth signed with Warwickshire and enjoyed a satisfactory first season, but injuries and a steady decline in form kept him out of the national team. His problems with discipline are well documented; he was warned by the BCCI with suspension from domestic cricket if he violated the code of conduct. But his ability with the ball continued to keep him in contention for a place in the Indian team in Tests and ODIs.