While his brother and father encouraged him to take up the game, his mother confesses she was against it.
"I didn't want him to take up cricket when he was small. I wanted him to study well and become an officer. But Dipu and his father supported him; they knew he was very talented," says Savitri Devi.
Sreesanth, she says, is very religious and visits many temples in Kochi. His favourite shrine, not surprisingly for a Malayali Hindu, is the Sri Krishna Temple in Guruvayur, located 100 kilometres from Kochi.
"His favourite food is rice and fish curry. For breakfast he likes Kadala and Puttu (a traditional dish prepared from rice and gram). In fact, he wants Kadala and Puttu every morning; he loves it so much," his mother says.
Whenever he plays a match, she says he asks her to light the lamp in the puja room every morning and keep it burning till the end of the match.
"He has been doing it for every match since he was a child," she recalls.
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
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