Sreesanth jubilates after dismissing a Lankan batsman on the third day of the second Test, in Kanpur, on Thursday. (Reuters)

Kanpur: The enfant terrible of Indian cricket is back with a bang. Plagued by injuries, warned by the BCCI for his on-field behaviour, snubbed by his own state association for not attending a conditioning camp, the infamous row with Harbhajan Singh — Sreesanth has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in the last 18 months.

On Thursday morning, at Green Park, it was redemption time for the 26-year-old Kerala speedster.

In one of the most hostile spells of seam bowling on a not-so-conducive wicket, Sreesanth (five for 75 & one for 10) showed that he may have been down for a while but certainly not out.

India won their last Test match at Green Park on a dustbowl inside three days. Courtesy Sreesanth, they are all set to win this one too.

With four Lankan batsmen, including Tillekaratane Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, back in the hut with only 57 on the board, chances of an India victory within four days look bright.

Still in need of 356 runs to avert an innings defeat with the track getting all the more treacherous, it’s now about how many overs the visitors survive on the penultimate day.

It was at this very ground that Sreesanth had donned India colours for the last time (April, 2008 vs South Africa). Green Park, from now on, will remain a witness to his memorable second coming.

The spin-duo of Harbhajan Singh (two for 54) and debutant Pragyan Ojha (two for 37) also deserve credit for maintaining the pressure as Sreesanth went for the kill.

Sri Lanka could manage only 229 in the first innings in reply to India’s mammoth 642.

It took just two spells from the pacer — one in the morning and the other in the afternoon — to make every other action of the day look insignificant. Even if one argues that three of his five first innings victims were out playing poor strokes, none can rob him of the credit that is his due.

Save Mahela Jayawardene (47), the other Lanka batsmen looked vulnerable facing him.

They looked clueless against his swinging deliveries and appeared terrified when he started getting the 65-over-old ball to reverse swing.

It has been a known fact that Sreesanth possesses a great outswinger but on the day he showed that he has also mastered the art of bowling the incoming delivery.

The customary aggression was there; but more in his deliveries and less in his body language. He looked like a rebel as he pounded in to bowl, but one with a cause.

Sreesanth’s performance would certainly make someone sitting in his Warwickshire home very happy. The Kerala pacer has time and again mentioned how his sessions with Allan Donald, during his stint with the English county side, made him a better bowler and a better person.

The best among his five wickets has got to be left-hander Rangana Herath’s scalp.

It was the 75th over of the innings. The ball pitched on the middle stump and moved a shade to hit the off-stump as he completed his second five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

Similarly, Tharanga Paranavitana’s (38) dismissal was a classic case of one unable to withstand the pressure.

On the last ball of his previous over, Sreesanth had hit Paranavitana on the shoulder with a well-disguised bouncer. In his very next over, Sreesanth hit the seam and the ball moved away from the left-hander after pitching. Paranavitana tried to push hard but, without any footwork, the result was a catch to Mahendra Singh Dhoni which the skipper collected smartly.

Dhoni, incidentally, looked to have injured a finger and had trouble keeping.

Kumar Sangakkara (44) dragged a Sreesanth delivery back onto the stumps when it could have been left alone. The normally dependable Thilan Samaraweera was also played-on in similar fashion.

First Test centurion Prasanna Jayawardene scratched around for 39, in the process fending off a couple of yorkers from the bowler, before he edged one to Dhoni off Sreesanth.

The most endearing sight of the day would definitely be Harbhajan trying to egg Sreesanth on from his mid-on position. Sreesanth later acknowledged his senior teammate’s credit in maintaining the shine of the ball so that there was reverse swing.