Durban hero Sreesanth looking forward to meeting Allan Donald before Sunday's Cape Town battle

To say India pace bowler S Sreesanth is on a high would be an understatement. He is over the moon with his performance in the recent Durban Test which India won by 87 runs and now can't wait to meet his idol Allan Donald to be a better force in the third and final Test starting here tomorrow.


S Sreesanth in full flight during Day Four of the second Test against South
Africa at Kingsmead, Durban on December 29.Pic/Getty Images

South African fast bowling legend Allan Donald is part of the television commentary team and Sreesanth is looking forward to catching up with him again. "Donald is my idol and being in South Africa brings back memories of meeting him for the first time outside Newlands ground in Cape Town.

"I was in the team bus and when I saw Donald walking past, I got down and asked him to pose for a photograph. Later, we came to know each other when he was coach during my stint with Warwickshire," said Sreesanth.

Donald's teachings still stick - "bowl on the imaginary fourth stump initially because the batsman knows he has to move his feet well. Then, gradually attack the timber. Always give your captain the impression that you can do the job. Go up to him at crucial times and ask him for the ball." Sreesanth received high praise for his delivery which got rid of Jacques Kallis in South Africa's second innings of the Durban Test. "People are saying it was a super delivery. For me, it was my best delivery," Sreesanth told MiD DAY.

Asked which delivery by an Indian bowler is etched in his memory, he had no hesitation in recalling the ball bowled by Balwinder Singh Sandhu which clean bowled West Indies opener Gordon Greenidge, who shouldered arms in the 1983 World Cup final.

Amazing ball
"It was an amazing ball. I find some similarity to my delivery," he says, without being afraid of sounding immodest. "The West Indies crumbled after that dismissal and in Durban the South Africans fell apart too after Kallis was dismissed."

Sreesanth has a chance of making it count in Cape Town after being a hero in the previous Test. He had his chance on India's last tour here in 2006-07, but the Indians ended up losing the series after winning the opening Test in Johannesburg where Sreesanth was man of the match for his match haul of eight wickets.
The Kerala fast bowler has had an eventful ride since then.

He has been controversial and in-the-face (he clashed with South African captain Graeme Smith in Durban), but wants to be humble. At the side of his bed in his hotel room, he flips through an album of photographs that contain images of his days at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai. "I love going through this album. It reminds me of my roots and this helps me to stay humble," he said.