I reiterate, Sreesanth must evolve like Taresh did

I was reading this article on a current cricketing issue.

The article raises many useful points.

We here have followed the fortunes of Indian fast bowling pool (Bala's series on Indian pacemen titled India's Quick Problem in two volumes - 1 & 2, and Balaji is back) and specifically spoke about aspects of Sreesanth which are at the forefront today. For this, one must go back to two articles - one, an April 14th 2008 article titled simply, Sreesanth, and a more recent one titled Penetration is key to success. In the second article attention should be directed to Bala's views upon Sree (comments number 5 and 7). Not only are they insightful, they are also, in a small way, predictive and explanative.

People often confuse the reasons why Sree was left out. They forget injury was the main reason. Perhaps because what all goes around Sreesanth is too vivid, loud and often blinding.

There is not an ounce of untruth in the disciplinary issues around Sree. In this age of telereporting complemented by webreporting, we have had access to, and witnessed, numerous misdemeanours by this volatile, but immature, young man.

Harbhajan slapped him on camera, on a cricket ground.

He was disciplined for it. I cannot recall today if he had missed any international engagements because of that incident and the ensuing disciplinary action slapped upon him, perhaps he did, but I cetainly recall that he had to sit out of that IPL and forego large sums of contract money. Even if he did sit out one or two international matches as a result, I doubt if his coming back so soon into the team was a proper signal either.

I am in complete agreement with Vasu ji of the HT article that disciplinary action must be strictly applied without bias or favour. Expected standards of behaviour must be made clear to one and all. It is possible that Harbhajan sat out while a novel tournament was going on in India for the first time and it appeared that he had missed many IPL matches and therefore adequately penalized before being brought in to play proper international cricket. Of which he must not have missed too many...my memory fails me here if he did actually miss any international engagements.

The contrast Sree suffers from is that he was firstly sitting out for quite long due to injury and form issues. Then his extra-cricketing misadventures were well highlighted. Whatever cricket he played in recent times, was in the obscure world of English County Cricket...obscure I say merely due to the distance involved...like out of sight, out of mind kind of thing...the end result was that the complete package of long absence, a relatively poor IPL 2009, publicized unsavoury news from within and without cricket world, and playing current cricket at a distance, makes it appear that he has missed nothing and has deservedly been made to sit out. Injury and recovery is forgotten.

No one denies the discipline issues with that chap. I'll quote what we said a year and a half ago in Sreesanth - "Like William Papas' Taresh, or Gattu created by R.K Laxman for Asian Paints, Santhakumaran Sreesanth projects the same innocent mischievousness of boyhood. Taresh, bright but lazy, mischievous but good hearted, ultimately learns responsibility and the value of effort in that famous Bill Papas story - Taresh The Tea Planter. Same with Sree."

Taresh the tea planter, William Papa's story for children and moral for the childish, was one of my favorite possessions as a kid. Those who would like to see that story as a directed comment at peoples by peoples are welcome to their ghost hunting, but I saw it always as a story which is all too common in our world. How a boy in tea garden country, lazy, irresponsible, and naughty though good hearted, learns the value of a proper work ethic, sharing with and caring for others instead of always pranking and wisecracking to the extreme, besides also understanding the essence of responsibility, is narrated in an easy style through finely illustrated pages.

When I first saw Sreesanth, Taresh sprang to my mind.

A year and a half later, we continue to urge Sreesanth to evolve, for he is indeed required to address India's changed Quick Problem. If he chooses not to redirect his energies constructively, then the loss is his and his only. On the other hand if he can actually manage some discipline, he stands to gain most from it and maybe India too alongside.

In ODIs, Sreesanth continues to be India's most penetrative bowler.

Like Bala said in the comments below that article, he is not too bad in tests either, considering the early stages his career still is in.

For Warks he took 13 wickets in five FC matches.^Cricinfo Nothing great as Vasu ji pointed out, but not abject considering he is returning to play after some time. I have restricted myself to FC matches because we are talking test cricket selection and FC matches are closer representatives of that.

Forget about signals...there are many people sending out very wrong signals all the time from every vantage point in this country....a blog even has a montages of the Indian team sending out smoke signals - pro athletes contracted for best effort, whose responsibility it is to maintain their best physical shape for their employer...sending out smoke signals of ill habits to one and all. So signals were broken when Bhajji played international cricket as soon as he sat out of IPL 2008...if the argument that Bhajji served his penalty holds then BCCI did fine Sree 60% of match fees too, and it was KCA's choice to leave him with a warning and not slam him inside the cooler for ever. Bad signals were sent at this point...a more punitive action with stricter sanctions should have been applied to satisfy one and all that justice was done and an example had been made of. The point being missed is he is supposed to have been chastized by the fines imposed and warnings given...and penalties, he has duly fulfilled. So that leaves him open for selection.

If he had been penalized with say, a suspension for six months or 10 matches etc. , one would have understood the bad message being conveyed by his early selection before the punishment term was complete. Then we could say the signal towers had gone on the blink. If he flouts his parole again, make sure he never plays for India again. But first he must be under adequate punishment for that paroling, which is also even-handed...Right now he is a free man in those terms.

Make it a rule that turning up late for nets would earn you a six month suspension from all forms of cricket...rack up the degree of penalty then to be sufficiently punitive.

You cannot blame the selectors for selecting a player who has fulfilled his penalties till now. It is not the job of selectors to discipline people - their brief is clear. If he goes on unchanged there will come a time when punishments will pile up enough to keep him out of the game for good. Either that or have stricter punishments. And let's speak of all players in the same kind of breath. Let us not save the sweet scented one for a player and store the bad breath for another when the issue is the same or similar. And let us discern that selectors must have gone by pure cricketing needs and selected those who are available on all counts - good fitness, punishment-free, and hopefully, good form.

Now to select him or not on pure cricketing merit is a completely different issue. People will have different points of view on it and I respect that. I tend to agree with Bala's comment no. 7. We need penetration and a man who shall slog through on the easiest of tracks or the longest of impenetrable innings a batsman's playing, and still retain the energy to go up to him to ask the time. Maybe that will make the batsman remember an urgent appointment! On a serious note, Sree is being brought in as a workhorse with some penetrative abilities to buttress a shallow pool. In fact the title of this article sounds good to me - Shot in the dark? Sometimes you have to imagine that such a selection is inspirational and not conspirational.

And Vasu ji would know better than I that players have been dropped before without being played. There may be some substance in Balaji and Dhaval Kulkarni's case he's making out, we too have been taking a close look at Balaji's Ranji performances since his return from injuries, but personally, I'll take the chance with Sree ahead of them at this moment.

Once again, in closing I repeat, it is in Sree's interest for him to evolve a few degrees towards modern civilization from being a caveman. I mean, how long can you live in a cave and be comfortable? Crank up your bowling engines Sreesanth, get those 140+s bursting out of your action, send the stumps bolting out of their chokes, and forget the rest of bull...here is your chance, could be your last, make it count. If you want to know the time, don't go up to ask the batsman...wear a restraining chain on your wrist with a watch attached to it instead.