10 amazing facts about Javagal Srinath: Srinath caught the attention of the former selector for Karnataka, Gundappa Vishwanath, in a club game in 1989.
In his Ranji Trophy debut match for Karnataka, Srinath took a hat-trick in the game against Hyderabad and ended the season with 25 wickets from 6 games.
Since making his ODI debut in October, 1991, and Test Debut in November, 1991, there has been no looking back for this speedster who came very close to the proficiency of the legendary Kapil Dev.
Let us take a sneak peek into ten amazing facts about Srinath :-
1. Javagal Srinath Making his ODI debut against Pakistan in the Wills Trophy, 1991, at Sharjah, he is India’s most prolific wicket-taker in World Cup games. In the four editions of the iconic tournament between 1992 and 2003, Srinath had picked up 44 wickets from 33 innings at average of 27.81 and 4.32 economy. He is the only Indian pacer to have played in four editions of World Cup.
Picking up 8 wickets from 7 innings each in 1992 and 1996 editions, he had bagged 12 wickets from 8 games in 1999 and 16 wickets from 11 games in 2003.
Having taken 315 ODI wickets, Javagal Srinath remains the highest Indian wicket-taker as a pacer, in that format of the game. Anil Kumble is the other Indian bowler to surpass the 300-wicket mark in ODIs.
2. In the series against Australia in 1997-98, Javagal Srinath clocked 146 kmph in one delivery. Former Zimbabwean skipper, Alistair Campbell stated that, in a game at Paarl on 27th January, 1997, Srinath had bowled at 157 kmph.
For a long time, Javagal Srinath was India”s only regular pace bowler. The excess workload was believed to be the partial cause of his injuries and that forced him to undergo an operation on his right shoulder in 1997.
The Australia legendary quickie, Denis Lillee called him “a genuine fast bowler“.
3. Javagal Srinath Having taken nine wickets in the second innings of the Second Test against Pakistan in 1999 at Firoz Shah Kotla, when Kumble was looking to take his tenth wicket, Srinath, who was bowling from the other end, bowled way outside the off stump so as to avoid taking the final wicket in order for Kumble to get to the record. Anil Kumble always gives full credit to him (Srinath) for his perfect 10 against Pakistan.
4. Javagal Srinath won his first Player of the Match award both in ODI and Test in 1993. Playing in the Fourth Test against South Africa at New Lands, Cape Town, in January 1993, he picked up 2/51 in the first innings and another 4/33 in the second.
Later on 7th November, 1993, playing in the first match of the Hero Cup (ODI) at Kanpur, he picked up 5/24 from his spell of 6.4 overs. Both these performances won him the maiden MoM award in the respective format.
5. The Karnataka speedster was out of the team for many days during 2001. With the bowlers like Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar emerging on the scene, Javagal Srinath played only in 8 Tests and 15 ODIs in that year. Though he played few matches, he was successful in getting 33 test wickets at 27.0 average.
6. The ‘never say die’ cricketer’s Test career ended in 2002. He played only against West Indies and Zimbabwe, taking 20 wickets. He also took 20 ODI wickets with an excellent spell of 4/23 and against New Zealand, he took 7 wickets for 87 runs.
7. Javagal Srinath, who wanted to retire even from ODI, was requested by the then Indian captain,Sourav Ganguly, to stay on and play until the World Cup 2003. He agreed and also gave consistent performances in the World Cup, helping the team reach the final.
In the season leading to the World Cup he also participated in India tour of New Zealand in January, 2003, a few weeks before the world cup, when he took 18 wickets in 7 matches.
He played his last ODI in the World Cup in 2003, and was the leading Indian wicket-taker.
8. The lanky pacer from Karnataka had his best Test outings against South Africa. Having bagged 64 wickets at an average of 24.48, Srinath, during November 1996 and January 1997, he claimed 35 wickets from just 6 games at 24.94 average.
His best ODI outing has been against Pakistan. Having played 36 matched, he had bagged 54 wickets at 30.68 average.
9. Javagal Srinath is the second fastest Indian bowler to take 150 wickets and the fastest Indian bowler to claim 200, 250 and 300 wickets in ODI. He is also the leading wicket taker atSharjah Cricket Stadium where he had taken 39 wickets.
10. The following are his other records:
- World”s best bowling figures (13 wickets for 132 runs) in a Test match (sum of both innings) while ending up on the losing side
- Third highest wicket taker among Indian fast bowlers in Test matches after Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan
- One of the 11 bowlers who has taken more than 300 ODI Wickets
- Second highest number of ‘not-outs’ incricket World Cup history -9 occasions. The first being Australia’s Steve Waugh
- Was conferred the Arjuna Award in 1999
