Vijay Hazare Trophy 2020-21: Sreesanth takes a five-wicket haul

Indian speedster S Sreesanth scalped his first five-wicket haul in almost 15 years and helped Kerala pull-off a three-wicket win against UP. Sreesanth was the stand-out performer for the Kerala team. In the 9.4 overs that Sreesanth bowled, he picked up five wickets and gave away 65 runs.

In the 2013 season of the IPL, Sreesanth was caught in the spot-fixing scandal, and his cricketing career almost came to an end. However, after more than seven years, the Indian pacer returned to domestic cricket with the desire to once again take part in the Indian Premier League. The 38-year-old also desires to wear the national jersey once again.

Sreesanth played the entire 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that preceded the Vijay Hazare Trophy. In the on-going 50-over competition, he has so far picked up seven wickets in two games.

Kerala played against Uttar Pradesh in a Group C game at the KSCA Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday. Sreesanth picked up his first wicket of UP opener Abhishek Goswami for 54. The pacer then returned in the death overs to dismiss UP under 200. He picked up wickets of captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohsin Khan, Akshdeep Nath, and Shivam Sharma. On his List-A return, the former Indian fast bowler also scalped two wickets for 41 against Odisha on Saturday.

Railways and Kerala occupy the top two spots in the Elite Group C points table

Veteran batsman Robin Uthappa was the star performer for Kerala with the bat as he scored a brilliant 55 ball 81. He also received adequate support from captain Sachin Baby, who scored an 83 ball 76. It was Kerala's second consecutive win in Group C, but they are still second on the table. Railways are leading the points table as they defeated Odisha by eight wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Sreesanth had his name in the IPL auction 2021 at a base price of Rs 75 lakh. However, he got excluded by all the eight franchises. Sreesanth has featured in 27 Tests, 53 ODIs, and 10 T20Is and picked up 87, 75, and 7 wickets, respectively.

Kerala Team Roster

Sachin Baby (C), Vishnu Vinod (VC & WK), Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson, Rohan Kunnummel, Salman Nizar, Vatsal Govind, Vinoop Manoharan, Jalaj Saxena, Sreesanth, Akshay Chandran, Sijomon, Azharudeen, Midhun S, Basil NP, Arun M, Nidheesh MD, Sreroop, Fanooz, Rojith.

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