S Sreesanth missed his breakfast and opted for an early morning low-cost airline travel to leave Bangalore several hours before the team’s departure in the evening. Despite leaving the stadium close to midnight, he didn’t mind an early start to the day. The desperation to reach home to play his first international game as a world champions means the home boy is the first from Team India to reach the venue for Tuesday’s India and Australia ODI. Kochi too seems equally frantic to receive the rare cricket star from this football country. Historically, the multi-purpose Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has recorded a full house for virtually all international cricket games but this time things will be different. Such has been the sporting culture in the city that football games are occasions to speak about the exploits of local stalwarts like IM Vijayan and Pappachan, while in cricket season they moan when Kerala would produce a Tendulkar, Ganguly or someone better than Tinu Yohanan — the last player from the state to play for India. The jovial Eranakulum Cricket Association president KP Satish makes an interesting observation about the blooming of a cricket star in the football fertile land. “Sreesanth is like chicken biryani in a brahmin restaurant,” he says as he points to the changing cricket scene in the state. “The number of junior cricketers taking up the game has increased by several folds. The cricket interest was always there but people were skeptic about getting the big break. Sree has changed that all,” he adds. Tomorrow, when the usual mass exodus from the north Kerala — Kannur, Kozhikode, Kassargod and Mallapuram happens to the state’s cricket hot beds — hit Kochi by midnight in buses and trains, they will finally be talking about a home grown hero. “Sree happens to be as big a name as, say, a Vijayan or PT Usha in Kerala now,” says Satish. There are many around in Thammanam — the area in Kochi were Sreesanth grew up but has now moved to a bungalow presented to him by a real estate company that he endorses — who agree. Sreesanth’s elder brother Dipu Shanthan, who stills stays in the area and owns a music production company, speaks of a plot near their old house. “That was the place people used to play football and as you would have noticed, today they are playing cricket,” he says as one recalls the game of cricket on the side of North Road in Kailashnagar. He goes on to speak about the determination and sacrifice of his younger brother that made him a star. It’s a story of hope from a region with natural athletic prowess that was surprisingly under represented in a sport which in its modern form demanding exceptional physical fitness. “When he was just 13 we sent him to Bangalore as there was cricket culture there. He used to cycle 15 kilometers each side to reach the academy. He always used to set goals for himself and work hard to achieve them,” says Dipu. That’s when his cell phonerings again. “For the last two days I have to constantly charge my phone. Everyone is asking for tickets. The same is the case for Sree,” he says. One catches with the man of the moment just outside the airport and he gives a long list of appointments for the coming days. Ask him how it feels to return to his home town as a world champion and he opts to take a trip down the memory lane. “I still remember the last Australia game here, Sachin paaji got 5 I was sitting in the gallery with a couple of my friends and enjoying the match. This time, I am one among the players,” he says. Watching the interest for the game here, it seems Sree will soon have the company of statemates on the field and also on such low-cost early morning flights.
