S. Sreesanth or Shanthakumaran Sreesanth is an former indian cricket player and television show celebrity who was born on 6 February 1983 in Kothamangalam, Kerala, India. He was a right-arm fast-medium-pace bowler and a right-handed tail-ender batsman. He debut with kerala team in first class cricket. In September 2013, he was banned for life from playing Cricket by the BCCI, for his involvement in spot-fixing. Later on S. Sreesanth goes to supreme court where he was found not guity in case.

Personal life

Sreesanth was born on 6 February 1983 to Santhakumaran Nair and Savithri Devi. He has one elder brother and two elder sisters. His brother Dipu Santhan owns a music company in Kochi and his eldest sister Nivedita is a television actress in Kerala. Sreesanth's elder sister Divya married Madhu Balakrishnan, a famous South Indian playback singer.

On 12 December 2013, Sreesanth married his girlfriend Bhuvneshwari Kumari of Jaipur's Shekhawat family at Guruvayur Sri Krishna temple in Kerala. Bhuvneshwari Kumari aka Nain Shekhawat is the daughter of Hirendra Singh Shekhawat and Muktha Singh.

Early years

Sreesanth initially was a leg-spinner in his childhood, modelling his action on India's leading Test wicket-taker Anil Kumble, who was to become his Test captain. 

Following in the footsteps of fellow Kerala fast bowler Tinu Yohannan, who earned selection to the National Cricket Academy in 2000, Sreesanth was selected for the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai. 

He then made his first-class debut against Goa in the 2002–03 domestic season, claiming 22 wickets in seven matches in the Ranji Trophy and winning selection for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy squad in the same season.

He was selected for India-A side in a tour match against the visiting New Zealand side at Rajkot. He claimed one wicket in twelve overs after being restricted with a hamstring injury.

Career

ODI career

Sreesanth was given the new ball in the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Nagpur. After being punished early by Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya, Sreesanth returned to claim his first two ODI wickets at the end of the match. 

A good home series against the England in April 2006, in which he claimed 10 wickets at an average of 16.3, including a career best 6/55 in the final match at Indore (in which he was awarded the man of the match award ), led to him subsequently being awarded a BCCI contract, in the C-grade in May.

In the 2011 Cricket World Cup, Sreesanth was selected due to injury to Praveen Kumar. He was expensive in the first game going wicketless at 53 runs in 5 overs. He was selected in the final where he gave away 52 runs in 8 wicketless overs.

Test career

Sreesanth was selected for his first Test squad in the home series against England in March 2006, in place of Zaheer Khan. He claimed 4/95 in his debut appearance in the 1st Test in Nagpur, where he opened the bowling with Irfan Pathan. 

Sreesanth's most significant performance to date in Test cricket was his role in the first Test of India's 2006 tour to South Africa at Johannesburg. After losing the limited-overs series 4–0, Sreesanth produced took 5–40 in a display of pace and swing to help dismiss South Africa. 

Sreesanth courted controversy once again during the fourth day of the second test of India's 2007 tour to England at Trent Bridge. He was fined half of his match fee for deliberately shoulder barging England captain Michael Vaughan whilst walking back to his mark.

2007 ICC World Twenty20

In September 2007, Sreesanth joined the Indian team in South Africa for the inaugural ICC T-20 world cup following his omission for the one-day series in England. Although his performance in the tournament lacked consistency, Sreesanth managed breakthroughs at critical junctures that were vital to his team's success.

In the final against rival Pakistan, he was little bit expensive. In thrilling match, in the final over he took catch, while standing on fine leg.

Indian Premier League

Sreesanth associated with the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. In the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008, Sreesanth became the second leading wicket taker in the tournament after Sohail Tanveer, claiming 18 wickets. Sreesanth appeared only in the second half of the 2009 edition of the IPL. He could not play the initial matches of the season owing to a stress fracture. He left Kings XI Punjab after the 2010 Indian Premier League and signed for Kochi for the 2011 competition. He signed for Rajasthan royals for the 2012 competition. But he didn't play in 2012 due to injuries. With his spot-fixing controversy coming into light during the 2013 IPL competition, Rajasthan Royals terminated his contract.

Altercation with Harbhajan Singh

On 25 April 2008, following the victory of his Kings XI Punjab's victory in the Indian Premier League over the Mumbai Indians at Mohali, Sreesanth was slapped under his eye by Harbhajan Singh, the captain of Mumbai. The incident came to light as Sreesanth was caught by TV cameras sobbing inconsolably on the field before the presentation ceremony.

Spot fixing allegation and arrest

On 16 May 2013, the Delhi police arrested Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan from Mumbai, on charges of spot-fixing during IPL 6. Jiju Janardhan, another key figure accused of spot-fixing, is reported to be Sreesanth's cousin and an under-22 Gujarat player. On 17 May 2013, Sreesanth confessed to spot-fixing, according to police. However, Sreesanth has always maintained that he is innocent and that he was forced to sign confession statements.

In March 2019, the Supreme Court of India "set aside" the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI. The apex court of the country asked the BCCI to "reconsider" and "revisit" the length of any fresh ban. Following which the BCCI reduced his ban to 7 years, which meant that he could play all forms of the game from 13 September 2020.

Comeback after ban

Since the life ban imposed on him, it had been reduced to a seven-years ban, Sreesanth had talked about doing "everything possible to get back on the field". The ban officially ended on 13 September 2020. Sreesanth was selected in the Kerala Team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2021. He played the first match after his ban in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January 2021. On 9 March 2022, Sreesanth announced his retirement from domestic cricket.

Television career

In 2008, he participated in the reality show Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena along with Surveen Chawla.

In 2014, Sreesanth participated in the dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa in its seventh season. He survived for 5 weeks until he got eliminated.

In 2018, Sreesanth participated as a celebrity contestant in the twelfth season of Bigg Boss, the Indian version of the reality TV show Big Brother, where he finished as the runner up of the show. 

Political career

On 25 March 2016, Sreesanth joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He contested and lost the Kerala Assembly elections from Thiruvananthapuram. He secured a total of 34,764 votes but lost the election to VS Sivakumar of the Congress by 11,710 votes.

Career Stats