The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : ‘A hundred things… and then I went blank’

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Friday, Sep 28, 2007
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‘A hundred things… and then I went blank’

Principal Correspondent

Kochi: A hundred things raced through S. Sreesanth’s mind as Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq sent up that skier in the Twenty20 World Cup’s final over.

Pressure

“I was under a lot of tension as I did not bowl well early. I was virtually shivering, there was so much pressure to take that catch,” said the young fast bowler, minutes after landing at the Cochin International Airport on Thursday. “I thought ‘how I’d go home if I missed it’… I said, ‘Oh God, please be with me.’ And then, I went blank.”

That catch sent the country into raptures.

A lot of things from the World Cup will follow Sreesanth as India takes on Australia in the Future Cup one-day series beginning in Bangalore on Saturday.

Sreesanth is aware the tourists would target him in the forthcoming seven-match series.

Big challenge

“It’s going to be a big challenge. And we’re going to get the Aussies at their best,” he said. With the new series coming close on the heels of the World Cup in South Africa, Sreesanth said he felt T20 habits will linger on in the coming one-dayers.

“There should be big hits, bit totals…everything will change. And I think we should now call it Fifty50.”

But he did not want to compare or comment on life under the country’s recent and new captains.

Big crowd

A big crowd, including Sreesanth’s parents Shanthakumaran Nair and Savithri Devi, KCA President T.R. Balakrishnan, secretary T.C. Mathew and the cricketer’s friends and fans, were present at the airport to greet him.

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