Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021: Kerala pacer Sreesanth bowls leg-spin against Andhra; picks up a wicket

Sreesanth has made the headlines since the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy has begun on January 10. There was a lot of spotlight on him even before the start of the tournament as he was making a comeback after a huge gap of close to seven years and desperately wanted to take the field. He also got very emotional after picking his first wicket against Puducherry in the opening game of the team.

He was called out for sledging the youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal during the match against Mumbai and the latter ended up hitting him for two back to back boundaries. Sreesanth himself then took to Twitter to praise Jaiswal calling him a very good batsman while also stating that he always gives his 100% on the field no matter what.

Kerala pacer continued to hog the limelight on Sunday as well and this time it was for his different style of bowling. Sreesanth is known for his long run-up and pace but during the match against Andhra, at the Banda Kurla Complex in Mumbai, he bowled leg-spin and ended up picking a wicket as well.

With the result being inconsequential in the match, Sreesanth decided to bowl leg-spin and his action seemed similar to Anil Kumble. However, he bowled a short delivery only for the batsman Ashwin Hebbar to rock back and play a pull shot. But it didn’t go the distance and Vishnu Vinod pouched a simple catch in the deep.

Here’s the video:

No it's not @anilkumble1074

It's our very own @sreesanth36 bowling leg spin in Kumble style! And look… He actually got a wicket ❤️😍
Almost got his second one too

May be we've got a new spinner in town 😉#SyedMushtaqAliTrophy pic.twitter.com/82FnPGDVCQ

— Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) January 17, 2021

Kerala’s winning streak ended

Though Sreesanth was in the news for trying a different bowling action and picking up a wicket, Kerala didn’t have a great day on the field. After being put in to bat, they could only muster 112 runs in 20 overs despite losing only four wickets. In response, Andhra rode on top knocks from Hebbar (46) and Ambati Rayudu (38*) to chase down the target in the 18th over.

Sreesanth returned with the figures of 1/25 in his three overs while Jalaj Saxena picked up two wickets in defence of a low score. Kerala won the first three matches of the tournament and this ended up being their first loss.