Shanthakumaran Nair Sreesanth aka S Sreesanth is celebrating his 42nd birthday. The former Indian national cricket team pacer was born on February 06, 1983. Once regarded as the best-emerging talent of the country during his early days, the former team India bowler has seen extremes in his short but eventful career in cricket. He was a part of two World Cup wins the Min in Blue bagged with glory, but he was also a part of a shameful match-fixing scandal, for which he was banned later. The Kerala-born player had really a short career in international cricket, but it surely was one filled with both glory and controversy. S Sreesanth, 2011 World Cup Winner, Announces Retirement From All Forms of Cricket

Initial Career Days of Sreesanth

Sreesanth represented Kerala from the initial days of his career. His debut in the first-class games happened in the 2002-03 season against Goa. The season itself was a magical start to the player's career. He claimed 22 wickets in just seven Ranji Trophy games that season, and also won selection for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy. Very soon, he also got his India-A selection, when the team was set for a tour to New Zealand. A talented Sreesanth started creating records in 2004, with his hat trick against Himachal Pradesh in a Ranji Trophy game. He also got selected in India B for the Challenger Trophy of 2005. The youngster not only claimed a Man of the Series award, but also his maiden call in the Indian cricket team. S Sreesanth Defends Eight Runs to Take the Match to Super Over in Zim Afro T10 2023 (Watch Video)

Indian Cricket Team Days

He debuted for the Indian team in 2005, against Sri Lanka in Nagpur. Sreesanth picked two wickets in that ODI game. He went on to play 53 One Day Internationals for India, claiming an impressive 75 wickets. The pace star played in just T20Is for the nation, picking seven wickets. Despite playing just 63 white-ball games for India, Sreesanth has two World Cups beside his name. He was a part of the 2011 ICC World Cup (ODI) and 2007 ICC T20 World World Cup winning sides. Also, he was part of the runners-up team in the 2008 Asia Cup. The player also was a part of 27 Test matches for India, picking a healthy 87 wickets.

The Ban

When everything was going smoothly, Sreesanth's career took a sudden jolt and it never got back on track. The talented pacer was charged with spot-fixing allegations, for instances during the IPL 2013. He along with his two other teammates were charged with such allegations, Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan were banned for life by the disciplinary committee of BCCI on September 13, 2013. His ban was restored by the Kerala High Court on October 18, 2017. In March 2017, the Supreme Court of India reduced his sentence to just seven years. This implied that he was available to play from September 13, 2020.

After serving his sentence, Sreesanth did try to make a comeback. He played his first game post-ban in January 2021. However failing to leave notable marks, he retired on March 9, 2022. He did play in the Legends League Cricket later for Gujarat Giants.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 06, 2025 09:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).