Dale Steyn, a South African pacer is one of the few modern-day seamers who belong to the club of all-time great bowlers. His aggressive attitude mixed with deadly pace, remarkable control on line and length, and capability to swing the cricket ball both ways make him the legend of the fascinating game. Irrespective of the formats, Dale Steyn has never missed a chance to prove his virtuosity.
Even off the field, Dale Steyn is nothing short of an amusing lad who keeps his fans on the edge of their seats. The 37-year-old is quite active on social media, and more often than not, he provides the dose of entertainment with his smart responses.
Dale Steyn Cites Senior India Bowler S Sreesanth’s Six Off Andre Nel As Favourite Shot For Legendary Swinging Bat Celebration
On Saturday, the Proteas paceman gave a glimpse of such while responding to a question on the micro-blogging website Twitter. It all happened when ESPNcricinfo posted a query asking everyone about their favourite batsmen and a shot that gives them chills every time.
While some fans picked Sachin Tendulkar’s straight drive as the answer, some went with Virat Kohli’s cover drive and MS Dhoni’s helicopter shot as well. However, it was Dale Steyn who grabbed all the attention with his bewitching answer.
The Phalaborwa Express cited senior Indian bowler S. Sreesanth’s six off Andre Nel. Recalling the famous shot, Dale Steyn talked about S Sreesanth’s sensational ‘swinging bat celebration’ and termed it as ‘Legendary’.
“Sreesanth and his slog off Andre Nel for 6 with the swinging bat celebration. Legendary,” tweeted Dale Steyn.
The Kerala-born cricketer had been provoked by the constant chatter from Andre Nel, who kept saying “Indians don’t have a heart”, as revealed by S Sreesanth once.
S Sreesanth Hits A Six Off A Bouncer From South African Andre Nel And Danced With His Swinging Bat Celebration
The episode took place when India was on South Africa tour back in 2007. During the first Test match in Johannesburg, Andre Nel bowled a bouncer and followed it up with an exchange of words that fired the Kerala cricketer up.
On the very next ball, S Sreesanth stepped forward and smashed Andre Nel’s delivery for a six over the long-off region. He didn’t just stop there as after reaching the non-striker’s end, he was seen dancing with his swinging bat celebration, leaving everyone in splits.
S Sreesanth produced a dance move by swinging his bat, much to the amusement of the onlookers. Dale Steyn was also part of that fixture, but he could not much impact on his team.
The tourists won that Test by 123, with S Sreesanth getting eight wickets in the match, including a fifer in the first. Nevertheless, India lost the series as South Africa registered victories in the next two.
On 16 May 2013, the Delhi police arrested S Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan from Mumbai, on charges of spot-fixing during IPL 6. On 13 September 2013, S Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan were banned for life by BCCI’s disciplinary committee.
The BCCI later reduced his ban to 7 years, which meant that he could play all forms of the game from 13 September 2020. S Sreesanth took 4 scalps in 5 games in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 2020/21 and picked 13 scalps including a 4 wicket and a 5 wicket haul in 6 games in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2020/21 on his return to domestic cricket but his name wasn’t included in the shortlist of 292 players in the IPL 2021 auction.