Mirpur: Santhakumaran Sreesanth had a disastrous World Cup debut. He gave away 53 runs from his five overs.
The talk in the Indian team circles is that Sreesanth bowled badly owing to the tremendous pressure that had been imposed on him following strict instructions about his on-field behaviour.
Sreesanth was told that he will be playing only if he keeps his temper tantrums under control.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also wanted him to complete his overs quickly without wasting time. It looks as if Sreesanth can produce his best only he is allowed to behave the way he likes to on the field and by getting a kick out of provoking the batsmen.
Sreesanth too wanted to prove his critics that his omission from the first 15-member squad for the World Cup was a mistake.
The result of all this was that he focused on bowling faster than aim for line and length. When Imrul Kayes whipped Sreesanth's bowling mercilessly, one could see the usually calm and cool Dhoni about to lose his cool.
Eager to prove
Dhoni had set a tight off-side field and even requested Sreesanth to bowl around the wicket but in the pacer's eagerness to get a wicket, he bowled short pitch deliveries on the on-side.
Sreesanth also wanted to prove that he deserves to be in the 11 and not as a replacement for injured Ashish Nehra. All the pressure including the restriction on his tantrums seems to have put him out of rhythm.
As if to add insult to Sreesanth's humiliating debut, Virender Sehwag stated publicly after the match: "It was a good start for the team. Everyone had a good match except Sreesanth."
If Nehra recovers from his back pain, it looks as if Sreesanth might just be a passenger during the entire World Cup after this performance against Bangladesh.
