Helped by Jordan's ex-trainer, Sreesanth gets ready to play

New Delhi, June 21

A theatre of dreams called IPL turned into a nightmare seven summers ago for S Sreesanth, who is getting ready for a long and arduous road towards redemption with lessons in mental conditioning from Tim Grover, Michael Jordan’s former trainer.

Sreesanth gets up at 5 in the morning to attend online mental conditioning classes by Grover, a noted basketball physical and mind training coach who has also worked with Kobe Bryant.

“I attend Grover’s online sessions from 5.30am to 8.30am thrice a week. In the afternoon, I train from 1.30pm to 6pm at the indoor nets in Ernakulam with a lot of Kerala U-23 players and Ranji Trophy players like Sachin Baby,” Sreesanth said.

Having served seven years of suspension for his alleged involvement in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, Sreesanth is now gearing up to wear the whites for Kerala again, but that’s just one part of his goal.

Will he put his name up for the next IPL auction? The scars are still there and he wants that platform back, own that stage and get closure for seven harrowing years of his life. “I will put my name for sure if I am performing well, which I think I will,” Sreesanth, who is all set to play for Kerala in the Ranji Trophy this year, said.

“There are teams which will be interested and I have always told myself that I will again play IPL. That’s where I was thrown out and I will make sure I am back on that platform, win matches,” said the 37-year-old.

Away from cricket, he acted in four movies, and won the Best Villain award for a Kannada film.

“I had to earn money since I wasn’t playing cricket. I had a family to take care of, pay EMIs and bills. So I earned through movies and kept afloat. But for next five years, it’s just cricket,” he said. — PTI