Javagal Srinath

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Javagal Srinath bigraphy, stories - Indian cricketer

Javagal Srinath : biography

31 August 1969 –

Javagal Srinath () (born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and current ICC Match Referee.

He was a frontline fast bowler for the Indian cricket team until his retirement, being the second Indian pace bowler after Kapil Dev to take 200 Test wickets. One ball during the 1996 tour of South Africa measured . He also clocked 93mp/h at the 1999 World Cup. He is the leading wicket taker from India in Cricket World Cups, with 44 wickets in the 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003 World cups. He has taken 8 wickets in second innings Kolkata 1999–2000 test match India vs Pakistan and he took 35 wickets aganist South Africa in 6 test matches in 1996 – 1997.

Awards and honors

  • Arjuna Award – 1999

Match Referee

In April 2006, he was selected as a match referee by the International Cricket Council and served during the 2007 World Cup. So far, he has officiated as ICC match referee in 24 Test matches, 122 ODIs and 25 T20Is.

Retirement

Srinath retired from international cricket after the 2003 World Cup in South Africa in which he performed strongly until the final against Australia, when he conceded 87 off his 10 overs in the 2003 World Cup final against australia . but till the semi final 2003 World Cup his bowling average was 17.62 with an ECON of 3.48 .

Srinath had a good spell in the previous two matches he conceded just 20 runs in 8 over with Econ 2.50 against new zealand and just 11 runs in 7 overs with Econ 1.57 against kenya in 2003 World Cup semi final .

When Srinath retired from the international cricket he was in 8th place in the ICC Player Rankings bowlers with rating 701 points.

After Retirement

He toured England with the famous Lashings World XI team in the summer of 2005, and also served as a commentator for the India-England Test series in 2006. Once in an interview, 1992 World cup winning Pakistan captain Imran Khan said, after watching him bowl 150 km/h speed on Indian pitches, that Srinath is the most grossly underrated bowler in the world. It was Courtney Walsh who recommended Srinath to the county when he got injured and was asked to recommend someone.

Career summary

Although Srinath was a batsman as a youth, it was in a club match that he caught the eye of former Indian Test batsman Gundappa Viswanath, then a selector for the state team. In 1989/90, Srinath made his first-class debut for Karnataka against Hyderabad, taking a hat trick in the first innings. He followed this with wickets off successive balls in the second innings. Srinath finished the season with 25 wickets from six matches, and took another 20 the following season. The second season involved a display of reverse swing against Maharashtra at the Nehru Stadium in Pune, taking 7/93 to dismiss the home team for 311 in response to a Karnataka total of 638 on a good batting track.

Srinath made his One Day International debut in the Wills Trophy at Sharjah in 1991. He is also India’s most prolific wicket-taker at World Cups with 44 wickets from 34 matches. He remains India’s highest wicket taker in ODI matches as a fast bowler and only Indian pacer to surprass 300 wicket tally in ODI matches. Only other Indian bowler to achieve this feat is Anil Kumble who is a spinner.

Srinath then was selected to the Indian cricket team for the 1991/92 tour of Australia. Making his Test debut against Australia at Brisbane, he took 3/59 while playing as the third pace bowler. He finished the tour with ten wickets at 55.30. He was given an opportunity to take the new ball against South Africa in Cape Town, where he took an economical 4/33 in 27 overs. Srinath ended the tour with 12 wickets at 26.08. However, due to wickets in India being conducive to spin, he subsequently spent seven consecutive home Tests watching from the sidelines as India only fielded two pacemen. It was not until three years after his international debut, in late 1994 and with the retirement of Kapil Dev that Srinath played his first home Test, against the West Indies. He took five wickets and scored 60 in the second innings to be named Man of the Match as India won by 96 runs. His increased opportunities also coincided with an improvement in his batting, scoring two half-centuries in the series.