Meet Team India's new speedster

"Everywhere I am in the midst of a crowd these days," jokes Sreesanth, as he sits with mother Savithri Devi, a treasury department official, and father Shanthakumaran Nair, a retired Life Insurance Corporation of India officer.

"I was praying and waiting for this day," says Savithri Devi, as she distributes sweets to the teeming fans, friends, relatives and neighbours who have gathered to wish Sreesanth.

The proud mother says cricket is in her son's blood. "I knew he would be a sportsman. His mannerisms were like one. And all he wanted to do was play cricket," she says.

Sreesanth, she says, took up the game seriously at the age of 13, in school.

Who was his role model? "My brother," pat comes Sreesanth's reply. His brother Dipu Santhan played cricket at the university level.

"I used to always play with by brother. He was my inspiration," Sreesanth recalls.

Dipu, 30, played Ranji Trophy for Kerala too. "I always encouraged him [Sreesanth]. I knew he has this passion for the game. He was a very determined boy. I think the best thing about Sree is that he set his goals very high from day one," says Dipu, who runs a music company in Kochi.

If Dipu was Sreesanth's inspiration, it was Ernakulam Cricket Club president P Shivakumar who was his guide, teacher and mentor.

After he got home, Sreesanth rushed to Shivakumar's house. He met Shivakumar's father, 78-year-old K Radhakrishan, who set up Kerala's first family cricket club to train young enthusiasts like Sreesanth. That was 50 years ago.

"My cricketing guru is Shivakumarji," says Sreesanth.