Kochi: It was a pious day for pacer Sreesanth who undertook pilgrimage to Sabarimala on Friday evening along with his brother Dipusanth. Helped by their father Santhakumaran Nair for the ‘kettunara’ at the house of brother-in-law Madhu Balakrishnan at Tripunithura, the duo was accompanied by their friend Gopakumar.

They left for the hill shrine in Sree’s BMW and were expected to have darshan on Saturday morning, the first of the Malayalam month of Mithunam. A group of friends also joined them in another vehicle.

After darshan of Ayyappa, he performed sayanapradakshinom (rolling around the temple precincts).

He said, “It was my wish to offer prayers at Sabarimala immediately after release from jail, and I'm blessed to be here today when the temple opened for monthly rituals. I might have committed minor mistakes, but not this criminal offence of spot-fixing, and Lord Ayyappa is with me to bring out this truth.’’

Sreesanth said there was no ban on him playing matches. He would soon start practising and emerge as a “totally different personality” with Ayyappa’s blessing.

Earlier in the day, Sree along with his father, two sisters and Madhu paid a visit to Poornathrayeesa temple at Tripunithura and made an offering of 'thulabharam’ where he was weighed against bananas (kadalipazham). While arrangements were made for 85 kg of bananas, Sree weighed 83 kg.