Volatile Sreesanth hurts his cause again

BANGALORE/NEW DELHI: It seems Sreesanth's career is taking a turn from the temperamental to the absurd.

Even after being repeatedly warned for his behaviour pattern - and copping flak from his Team India skipper - the pacer is nowhere close to amending his ways.

MS Dhoni had commented a few weeks back that "the only person who can control Sreesanth is Sreesanth himself", and Mahela Jayawardene, Sreesanth's Kochi Tusker captain, learnt this the hard way during the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday.

Miffed at being dropped from the playing XI, ostensibly because it was a slow track and the team management wanted to include another spinner, Sreesanth fretted, fumed and generally threw a tantrum, even throwing in some finger wagging at Tuskers coach Geoff Lawson.

To make matters worse, the hysterical flare-up was caught on live TV.

Jayawardene, whose team ended up on the losing side, pleaded with the media at the post-match press conference to play down the incident, saying, "Dropping Sree was a tactical move as we thought that the pitch will aid spin. We played Ramesh Powar (instead). Sree took it well when I told him before the game and please, we just had a discussion. If you call this antics then what will you not call antics? Don't blow this up. I request you guys not to over-hype this issue. He has done well for us and nothing happened."

Jayawardene might have been diplomatic but it's clear Sreesanth's inability to control his emotions can have tragic repercussions for his international career. Tolerance levels for Sreesanth's antics are at an all-time low in the team management.

An up and down IPL, in which he just seemed to be getting in the groove before again being in the news for all the wrong reasons, is unlikely to help Sreesanth's cause.

Others like Ishant Sharma and even Irfan Pathan have made a positive impression in the T20 extravaganza.

With Dhoni having made clear that "Sreesanth is beyond my control" , where does that leave one of India's brightest pace prospects ahead of a season packed with important Test matches?

Tolerance levels for Sreesanth's antics, it seems, are at an all-time low.