[Watch] When S Sreesanth Dismissed Jacques Kallis With 'Spitting Cobra'

image-lpmbeyadSreesanth's unplayable delivery to Kallis (screengrab)

S Sreesanth's career may have ended controversially with the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal and he might be recalled as one of the unfulfilled talents in Indian cricket, but there was a time when the right-arm speedster proved to be a hero in one of the nation's finest overseas Test match victories. 

Sreesanth produced perhaps his greatest spell in his international career when he bagged a match-winning haul of 3 for 45 in the second innings of the Durban 2010 Test match which India won to secure only their second-ever Test victory on Proteas shores and levelled the three-match series 1-1. 

The Kerala quick, who was notorious for his fashion and tendency to sledge and jeer opposition players, came up with a serious exhibition of quality fast-bowling in the final innings at the Kingsmead and helped MS Dhoni's men equalise the Test series with a remarkable 87-run victory in the low-scoring tussle. 

Sreesanth's burst is remembered for the sustained seam and swing bowling and the memorable scalp of South African batting legend Jacques Kallis at the start of Day 4 when he completely bamboozled one of the greatest ever with an unsettling bouncer. 


When Sreesanth Upstaged The Great Kallis 

With the Test match nicely posed at 123/3 in the South African innings, India needed to strike early on the penultimate afternoon if they were to attain an edge over the mighty hosts. Sreesanth delivered the most impactful blow in the opposition camp by sending back their middle-order stalwart with a ball that would go down as one of the most lethal Test match deliveries ever. 


Running in from the over-the-wicket angle, the right arm quick got a normal good-length delivery to rise so quickly and steeply, it gave Kallis no time to make any adjustments. The great batter got ruffled up, jumped to avoid the ball hitting his face and could only manage to fend the ball to the gully region with his gloves for a straightforward catch taken by Virender Sehwag. 

Kallis couldn't believe his misfortune to have received such an unplayable ball very early at the resumption of his innings. Senior commentator Ravi Shastri called it a "spitting cobra" in the manner in which the ball jumped up disconcertingly against Kallis, who was in amazing form throughout the Test series but was out at a critical point in the run-chase.