Thiruvananthapuram, July 25: The last word on the spot-fixing scandal has not been uttered yet but one takeaway is the way Sreesanth responded when he was branded a pariah: the "bad boy" of Indian cricket literally danced, sang, anchored and acted his way out of the crisis.
Last year, Sreesanth featured in the dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and was a strong contender for the top prize till anger got the better of him. He stormed out of the sets when the judges held him a tad poor in one of the episodes.
He had also landed a guest role in a Malayalam film but the part was reportedly edited out after the scandal broke. He is said to be preparing himself to act in a Bollywood "comedy suspense" and had recorded a song for it recently.
He also took up the role of an anchor recently, hosting a reality show on a Malayalam entertainment channel.
Banned for life from cricket after the 2013 IPL season, Sreesanth did not ban himself from life. In the same year, he married Bhuvaneshwari Kumari, a jewellery designer and his lady love of six years.
The couple were blessed with a baby girl in May this year, prompting the dad to worry about her Internet-searching habits when she grows up.
Soon after he was discharged from the case today, Sreesanth said: "My daughter is three months old. When she grows old and googles my name, I want her to know me as a cricketer and not a terrorist. When I saw my photograph being flashed alongside Dawood Ibrahim, I was like shocked. I wondered what have I done to myself to deserve this."
At Sreesanth's home in Kochi in central Kerala this evening, his mother Savitri Devi and father Shanthakumaran Nair found it difficult to beat back tears.
"We were anxious since the morning. Whenever they postponed the judgment, the tension was only building up further and we wondered if the court would not pronounce the verdict today at all. Sree called in the afternoon and tried to console us. He asked us to send the snap of his daughter and we did that," Savitri Devi said between sobs.
As reporters turned towards Nair, he broke down and said: "God is watching. Thank God. Our prayers are answered. He (the Almighty) is witness to everything. We thank all those who worked to prove his innocence."
"Things keep happening from time to time and there is no use complaining about it," the father added.
Sreesanth's brother Deepusanth recalled that friends and some relatives had started treating the family with suspicion soon after the scandal hit the headlines but with time they realised that the claims might not be true.
