Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Internationals. Srinath was a frontline

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. ...

for the Indian cricket team until his retirement, and the second Indian pace bowler after

Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...

to take 200

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

wickets. After Dev retired, Srinath led the Indian fast-bowling attack for over nine years. He remains India's second-highest One Day International wicket-taker with 315, second to Anil Kumble. In the four World Cup's he played in: 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003, he took 44 wickets and is the joint highest wicket-taker for India in World Cups with

Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014. He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler. He was the second-most successful Indian pace ...

. Srinath retired from international cricket after the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

Personal life

Srinath was born in August 1969 at Javagal in

Mysore State Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a state within the Dominion of India and the later India, Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore, and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's c ...

. He played cricket from an early age. He attended Marimallappa High School and has a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Ba ...

degree in

instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

from

Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering JSS Science and Technology University, or in its full name Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Science and Technology University, formerly Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE), is a private university (India), private university lo ...

(SJCE) in

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

. He married his first wife, Jyothsna, in 1999. After their divorce, he married journalist Madhavi Patravali in 2008.

Domestic career

Srinath caught the eye of former Indian Test batsman

Gundappa Viswanath Gundappa Ranganath Viswanath (born 12 February 1949) is a former Indian cricketer. Vishwanath was rated as one of India's finest batsmen throughout the 1970s. Viswanath played Test cricket for India from 1969 to 1983, making 91 appearances ...

, a selector for the state team, during a club match. He made his first-class debut for

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

against

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

in 1989–90, taking a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in the first innings in which he bowled and taking wickets from successive balls in the second. He finished the season with 25 wickets in six matches, and took another 20 the following season. His second season involved a display of

reverse swing Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling. The aim of swing bowling is to cause the ball to move in the ai ...

against Maharashtra at Nehru Stadium in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, taking 7/93 to dismiss the home team for 311 in response to a Karnataka total of 638 on a good batting pitch. Srinath took over 500 first-class wickets, incluiding 96 at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 24.06 runs per wicket for Karnataka. He played in English county cricket for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in 1995 and took 87 wickets that season, including 9/76 against Glamorgan. Srinath also played county cricket for Leicestershire and

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

International career

Srinath made his One Day International debut at Sharjah in 1991. He played 11 ODIs and two Test matches in his debut year, taking 14 ODI wickets at an average of 30.00. He was selected for the Indian team for its 1991–92 tour of Australia, making his test debut against Australia at

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. He took 3/59 as the third fast bowler during the match and finished the tour with ten wickets at 55.30. With an opportunity to take the new ball against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, he took an economical 4/33 in 27 overs and ended the tour with 12 wickets at 26.08. Because the wickets in India were conducive to spin, however, Srinath spent seven consecutive home Test matches watching from the sidelines as India fielded only two fast bowlers. Following the retirement of Kapil Dev in late 1994, Srinath played his first home Test match, playing against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

. He took five wickets and scored 60 in the second innings to be named Player of the Match. His increased opportunities coincided with an improvement in his batting, and he scored two half-centuries during the series. Srinath was considered a very fast bowler in his early years. In the 1997–98 series against Australia, one of Srinath's deliveries was measured at and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

captain Alistair Campbell considered him faster than Lance Klusener and Allan Donald at their peak. He and

Grant Flower Grant William Flower (born 20 December 1970) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the current batting coach of Sri Lanka cricket team and Sussex. He is rated among the best Zimbabwean cricketers in history for his consistent ...

had also faced

Waqar Younis Waqar Younis Maitla HI (Punjabi, ur, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained Pakistan national cricket team. A right-arm fast bowler, Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the great ...

and

Wasim Akram Wasim Akram HI (; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, and several crit ...

. His fastest recorded ball was . Srinath was India's only regular fast bowler for many years, and his workload is believed to have caused his injuries; he underwent surgery on his right shoulder in 1997.

Injuries

Srinath's rotator-cuff injury, diagnosed in March 1997, kept him away from cricket until November of that year and affected his speed. The injury was caused by overuse. At the time, he had 92 test wickets in 27 tests—46 in his first 18, and 46 in his last nine matches. There were some doubts about whether he would be able to play again and when he announced his retirement in November 2003, Srinath said that he thought his career was over when he was recovering from the rotator-cuff injury. He returned from injury in 1998 and took 17 wickets in Test matches and 37 wickets in 19 ODIs at an average of 22.00—the best year of his career.

Late career

With a change of Indian captain in 2000, Srinath was given fewer overs than

Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...

in Test matches. He was primarily used in ODIs and Test matches played outside of India, taking 21 Test and 15 ODI wickets in 2000. He took nine wickets against Zimbabwe in Delhi, and received his last Test Player of the Match award that year. Inactive for much of 2001 due to emerging bowlers such as

and

Ajit Agarkar Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar (born 4 December 1977) is a former Indian cricketer and a commentator. He has represented India in more than 200 international matches in all three formats of the game. He is the third highest wicket-taker for India i ...

, he played eight Test matches and 15 ODIs. His Test career ended in 2002. Although Srinath wanted to retire from ODI, at the request of Indian captain

Sourav Ganguly Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...

he agreed to play until the World Cup. He participated in India's tour of New Zealand in January a few weeks before the World Cup, taking 18 wickets in seven matches.

Bowling

Srinath was the second Indian bowler (after Kapil Dev) to take 200 wickets in Test cricket, with 236. Although some critics said that Srinath's average and strike rate suffered as a result of bowling to India's predominantly dry, spin-friendly wickets, his average at home was superior to his average abroad since he knew could reverse-swing the ball.

Retirement

Srinath toured England with the

Lashings World XI The Lashings World XI is a cricket team captained by the former England and Surrey fast bowler Martin Bicknell. It was formed in 1984 as a pub team but evolved into an international XI after signing Richie Richardson in 1996. Now a corporate ente ...

team in summer 2005, and was a commentator for the India-England test series in 2006. In an interview, 1992 World Cup-winning Pakistan captain

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

said that after watching Srinath bowl on Indian pitches he considered him the most underrated bowler in the world.

Courtney Walsh Courtney Andrew Walsh OJ (born 30 October 1962) is a former Jamaican cricketer who represented the West Indies from 1984 to 2001, captaining the West Indies in 22 Test matches. He is a fast bowler and considered one of the all-time greats, best ...

recommended Srinath for county cricket when he was injured. Srinath is a familiar face to cricket viewers around the world as a commentator and ICC match referee. In 2010, he and former teammate Anil Kumble contested the

Karnataka State Cricket Association Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) is the governing body of Cricket in the Indian state of Karnataka. The association is affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India and governs the Karnataka cricket team. The association was f ...

elections. They won and Srinath, as secretary of the association, promotes young cricketers in Karnataka.

Referee

In April 2006, Srinath was selected as a match referee by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

and served during the 2007 World Cup. He has refereed in 35 test matches, 194 ODIs and 60 T20Is.

Honours

* Arjuna Award – 1999

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Srinath, Javagal 1969 births Living people Cricket match referees Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers from Mysore Durham cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers India One Day International cricketers India Test cricketers Indian cricketers Karnataka cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Recipients of the Arjuna Award South Zone cricketers