Sreesanth marks return with five-wicket haul

The wild child of Indian cricket, right-arm seamer Sreesanth, marked his return to the Test team in spectacular style by taking a five-wicket haul to leave Sri Lanka facing a first-innings deficit of 413 in Nagpur.

As notorious in India for his lack of self control both on and off the pitch, he has received several official warnings for indiscipline throughout his career, Sreesanth last played a Test for his country 19 months ago but was soon back in his stride today.

With India defending a massive first-innings total of 642, the pressure was off for the bowlers but it was only Sreesanth who regularly threatened on a moribund pitch with his consistent line and length.

His final figures of five wickets for 75 off 22 overs are made even more impressive by the fact that he dismissed three of the only four Sri Lankans to make over 20 runs.

With seven sessions remaining, Sri Lanka faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge just to survive, and when play was stopped early for bad light the tourists had already lost four wickets for the gain of just 57 runs, with Sreesanth adding another scalp to his first-innings haul.