Sreesanth has the ‘white-line fever’, says Symonds

Melbourne: Indian pacer Sreesanth’s “inability to rein himself in” when under pressure could end up costing his side dearly during the upcoming tour Down Under, feels Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds.

The burly right-hander, who had a series of confrontations with the mercurial pacer during last month’s one-day series in India, however, made it clear that he held no grudge against the Keralite.

“He’s just got white-line fever. He has got it that bad, he couldn’t rein himself in when he lost it a bit,” Symonds was quoted as saying by a local newspaper.

“It will be interesting to see how he is received over here. I don’t dislike him. Off the ground he was always polite. I saw him in the hotel and he always said ‘g’day’ and all that,” he added. “But, as I said, he’s just got white-line fever and sometimes he just loses control.”

Sreesanth is currently out of action owing to a shoulder injury but is expected to be fit in time for the Australia series which starts December 26 here.

Symonds himself is struggling with an injured ankle.

“The ankle joint is sore and swollen and I don’t have any confidence running on it. The physios seem to think I should be able to play the one-day game for Queensland (on December 5) before the Chappell-Hadlee (series) starts,” Symonds said.

The big-hitting allrounder once again dared India to show aggression against the Australians here.

“They had this campaign that they were going to fight fire with fire. I’m not sure whether it worked for them. They will have to work out a balance, as to when to go hard and when to back off a bit,” he said.