Open letter to Sreesanth after his lifetime ban

Dear Sreesanth,

You might win some, you might lose some. But remember, cricket always comes out victorious.

Perhaps the sole consolation for you is that the game you once used to worship has emerged victorious yet again. At a price. But you must be happy with justice. With that religious thread on your wrist and that teeka from the Kolkata Kalighat temple, you have always been a devout theist, and you must be thinking, ‘what God has done, he has done for the good’.

You know Sree, it’s pretty shocking watching you in this predicament. I mean, you have always been that innocent kid on the block – a bit amateur, a little too emotional, but innocent nonetheless. At least you had pretended so.

It’s extremely difficult to place this Sree in the boots of the young man who defined the historic moment of glory for his country at short fine leg six years ago. Millions had burst out in jubilation as Misbah-ul-Haq surrendered the inaugural World T20 Championship into your hands. It must have been a moment of unprecedented triumph for you, wasn’t it?

And that is not the earliest recollection I have of you. Your dance down the wicket to Andre Nel, your aggressive bowling against Pakistan, your exploits against South Africa have always reminded your followers of your immense potential. Unbounded aggression, solid temperament, unwavering determination, resolved purpose and inexhaustible perseverance – everything about you seemed surreal. Given your age and proportional talent, it wasn’t a surprise when pundits rated you as a promising youngster.

One would be inclined to say that your abilities deserved more success than they have tasted. But then, it has always been you who has been responsible for your ordeals. With such frequent emotional outbursts, you came across as a vulnerable soul defenceless towards controversies.

The step-motherly attitude that luck nurtured towards you didn’t aid your career either. Getting injured just when you seemed to be peaking must have left you frustrated more often than not. It, perhaps, won’t be an exaggeration to state that you have been an underachiever of sorts.

Yet, that region of dishevelled hair between the earphones at the airport appeared to posses the right amount of dedication if not the desired amount of work ethics. At least those two eyes told a story of a dream – a dream that, now, will never be fulfilled.

That summer evening, the television channels had habitually exploited the irony of the poignant moment as they juxtaposed the videos of the last ball of the World T20 in 2007 and your infamous ball in the IPL. The world had watched, stunned, the traumatizing analysis of your debauchery.

This evening, as your tweet came up, I could not help but chuckle. The fact that you found your lifetime ban “very surprising” is indeed a testament to your pretension of innocence all these years. Another failed attempt to earn public sympathy not only underlines your unrelenting efforts to establish your naivete even when your effigies are being burnt all over the country, but also speaks of the unconvincing insistence that had been a core faction of your disposition during your cricketing days.

It is not, however, astonishing that you fell for the bait despite having been a part of ACSU workshops on more than one occasion. Vulnerability comes almost inevitably with emotions. As one who wasn’t particularly known to have a grip on his emotions, you were obviously an easy target for professional opportunists.

Tell me, Sree, had you really failed to comprehend the stakes? Had it been a case of deceased morality or simply unrefined immaturity? Had the attention-seeker pulled off another stunt for grabbing the headlines? You certainly weren’t a toddler, Sree. Then how could you yield to such reckless stupidity?

You have been given your punishment, and I hope it is harsh enough. Harsh enough to deter any misled soul like you from putting the credentials of the game to test in the future.

No amount of whining will earn you lost sympathy, Sree. You have disgraced our country, and in the process, you have yourself fallen from grace. You have slumped to the nadir of respect and it will be a lifelong struggle to climb back again.

The journey from a reputed cricketer to an infamous criminal has been short and painful, and the series of events has been appallingly devastating for you as well as the 1.2 billion followers of the game. Today’s verdict, however heartbreaking it may be, is going to be the backdrop of your life from here on.

Reality stings, as you must have acknowledged by now. What ensues in your life here onwards will be an ideal paradigm for the fate of the morally impoverished. Take solace from the fact that your ‘mistake’ has, perhaps, prevented another array of similar ‘mistakes’.

Good luck for the rest of your permanently tainted life.

Yours sincerely,

A betrayed fan.