During the 60’s and 70’s , India was known as a nation that depended predominantly on its spinners for victories, both on home and away soil. However, in 1978, Kapil Dev arrived on the scene and he provided the attack the much-needed variety it needed.
For more than a decade, Kapil was the lone Indian pacer, who did his job manfully with the new and old ball until the season of 1991-92, when a tall bloke from Mysore came on to the scene.
Javagal Srinath made his domestic debut for Karnataka in the year 1989/90 season and immediately impressed one-and-all with his pace and even took an hattrick against Hyderabad. A couple of years later, he played his first ODI in India colours in Sharjah against Pakistan and registered figures of 1 for 31 in 9 overs.
12 months later, he was on the flight to Australia with the Indian team and made his Test debut in Brisbane, where he took 3 wickets in the first innings and none in the second innings.
Time to take over from Kapil
During his first two years in the game, Srinath provided Kapil with the support that he needed. But once the latter retired in 1994, it was up to the former to take up the mantle of being the primary fast bowler in the attack.
What didn’t help his cause,however, was that, just like it was the case during Kapil’s time when there were a barrage of quality spinners, India had the likes of Anil Kumble, Venkataphy Raju etc during Srinath’s time.
That meant that at home, the pitches were dry, leaving Srinath as a sideshow on most occasions. But there were certain instances, when he stood out like the game in Ahmedabad in 1996, when he took 6 for 21 on a deteriorating pitch to help India win the Test match against South Africa.
As his career progressed, injuries also started to take a toll on his body and it was due credit to him that he knew how to conserve his energies. From a tearaway quick who started out in 1992, Srinath transformed himself into a smarter bowler, who put his skills to better use during the latter half of his career.
He also played on the country circuit for many years, representing Gloucestershire and Leicestershire. He retired from the game in 2002, but on the insistence of the then skipper Sourav Ganguly returned to play the 2003 World Cup and had a fruitful outing at the event, picking up 16 wickets in 7 matches.
In fact, Srinath was India’s best bowler in World Cups, having taken 44 wickets in 34 matches and remains India’s leading wicket-taker in the competition.
Post retirement, Srinath became a match referee and is presently a part of the elite panel of the International Cricket Council.
But a few die-hard supporters of Indian cricket will feel that thanks to injuries and lack of help, particularly on Indian decks, Srinath couldn’t quite achieve as much as he would have liked to, but that surely doesn’t take away his contribution to Indian cricket.
Srinath in a box
| Parameters | Tests | ODIs |
| Matches | 67 | 229 |
| Wickets | 236 | 315 |
| Average | 30.49 | 28.08 |
| Best bowling figures in an innings | 8/86 | 5/23 |
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