Sreesanth Claims Smith Woke Him Up; Smith & Dhoni Agree No Place for Personal Remarks

It is a contrasting story at best. On the one hand, the mercurial fast bowler claims it was the South African captain who riled him enough into performing while the former is claiming he was the victim of some rather personal remarks.

sreesanth celebrates after bowling

While Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, was able to initially brush away the Graeme Smith-Sreesanth spat from the first Test, he found it harder to do a second time round after Smith reportedly spoke to his counterpart about the nature of the remarks that came from Sreesanth's mouth in a matter of sledging.

Smith supposedly told Dhoni that the remarks were too personal since Sreesanth touched upon his family. Smith though insisted he would not affect his relationship with India going into the third Test in Cape Town of the India South Africa series although he stated he had never personally encountered sledging that took that road as Sreesanth's verbal joust in the second Test in Durban.

Sreesanth though brushed off the matter and even claimed that Dhoni did not caution him as was being suggested. Instead Sreesanth has a different story to tell altogether. According to him, it was Smith who awoke him from a self imposed hibernation and Sreesanth even claims that it was Smith's riling of his ability as a bowler that really got under his skin. Sreesanth expressed mock gratitude to Smith, suggesting that when Smith suggested that Sreesanth was not good enough at that level, that is what spurred Sreesanth to realize he had a job to do.

It is interesting though that Sreesanth did not mention whether Smith taunted him before Sreesanth began the sledging or after. What is clear is that while the series is moving, the heat surrounding the issue simply refuses to die down. And it will not, since Sreesanth has already picked five wickets in South Africa's first innings in the third Test.