Sreesanth fined for conduct

Sri Sreesanth claimed 2-12 during India's semi-final victory over Australia © Getty Images

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Key seamer Sri Sreesanth has been warned to channel his emotions towards bowling India to victory in the ICC World Twenty20 final rather than risk further disciplinary action.

The talented 24-year-old was named by stand-in Australian captain Adam Gilchrist as the big difference between the sides after claiming 2-12 from his four overs, including the key wickets of both openers during India’s semi-final victory on Saturday night.

But his excitable nature also led to ICC match referee Chris Broad fining him 25 per cent of his match fee for excessive appealing, stressing: “If he continues to breach the code of conduct he can expect more severe penalties to come his way.”

That coded warning was enough for India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to accept responsibility for Sreesanth’s behaviour but he also issued a warning to him that he will only damage the team and himself if he continues down the same path.

As Sreesanth prepares for the highly-charged atmosphere of Monday’s tournament final against arch-rivals Pakistan, Dhoni stressed: “I’m the skipper of the side and he has to play according to what I want.

Sreesanth can sometimes get too excited © Getty Images

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“He has to do the things that I want him to do. He has to understand it is international cricket and whatever guidelines are there you have to follow them - if you’re at school, college or any institution there are certain guidelines that have to be followed.

“He’s a talented cricketer and has got the skills to do well at international level.

“But if he doesn’t use his head and gets himself banned for four or five matches it won’t do any good for himself or the team. He can either learn the soft way or the hard way, but he will learn.”

India arrive in Johannesburg with confidence high after successive victories over South Africa and Australia, two of the most fancied sides for the tournament.

They have also reached the final without calling on any of their established stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid or VVS Laxman.

But against all expectations India, perhaps one of the last teams to embrace this format of the game, have progressed to the final and Dhoni now believes this same pool of players should be developed to forge India’s future at Test and one-day level.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been pleased with his young India team © Getty Images

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“It’s important we have bench strength,” he explained. “Whatever the seniors have done in the last 15 years has been amazing but now we need to groom the new guys.

“They cannot just walk into the international arena and start performing. They need some exposure and they need some time.”

Perhaps their biggest hurdle to overcome may be to cope with the expectations from the Indian public - particularly in matches against Pakistan - but it is one that Dhoni is confident they can clear.

“We’re dealing with the pressure in the big matches we’ve played,” added Dhoni.

“We played against New Zealand, we played against South Africa in a do-or-die match and then we played Australia.

“We are getting used to it and it’s important we look at it as just another match. There’s no point thinking about what may happen or what may not happen. I don’t think it helps you to perform better.”

India will give a fitness test to opener Virender Sehwag, who struggled with groin problems against Australia, while in-form Yuvraj Singh is expected to feature despite ongoing tendinitis problems with his elbow.