The retired Indian cricketer, S Sreesanth was always popular with his wild celebrations, especially when he would take big wickets. Even the Australian opener Matthew Hayden may very well remember the act of Kerala pacer when he was bowled out by Sreesanth in the semifinals of the inaugural ICC World Twenty 20 at Durban on September 22, 2007.
Sreesanth bowled a yorker from around the wicket, uprooting the stumps and ruining Hayden’s well-crafted 62-run effort. Sreesanth dashed to the opposite end, crouched down, and slapped the wicket three times in jubilation. After 18 years, the two-time World Cup winner has pondered on that iconic moment, revealing that WWE influenced him to perform that type of celebration after dismissing the Australian opener.
“Matthew Hayden looks so big. Most people don’t know why I did what I did. So, he got bowled, and what do you do in WWF (World Wrestling Federation), ‘three taps and you are out’,” Sreesanth said during Cheeky Singles on JioHotstar.
The celebration by the right arm pacer was based on the popular American wrestling entertainment show, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which was erstwhile, WWF. Being a huge fan of the show, WWE scripted wrestling drama with its enormous audience, ensnared the Sreesanth, who was also a red hot pacer of his playing days in international cricket.
Dismissing Hayden by Sreesanth became a deciding moment of the semifinal match. The Australian had been in a good position at 134/2 in 14.3 overs when they were chasing the total of 188/5 made by Indian Team. India ended up winning the match by 15 runs where Sreesanth claimed 2 wickets at 12 runs. But his best act was the final wicket when he caught Misbah-ul-Haq at fine leg when India emerged only T20 World Cup title.
What is Sreesanth upto these days?
Sreesanth played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as a player of where he was assigned to play in the Rajasthan Royals (RR). He is the first Kerala Ranji player to represent the Men in Blue in T20I. He was originally barred permanently after the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, though later in August 2019 his ban was shortened to seven years. He took part in the reality show Bigg Boss in 2018 and came as the runner-up. In 2020, he made a comeback in his cricket career by signing on to Kerala state team, then went on to announce his retirement in March 2022 as a domestic player. He now does commentary stints in games.
