NEW DELHI, 12 November 2003 — Indian fast bowler Javagal Srinath announced his retirement from international cricket yesterday following a prolonged knee injury.
“I have made an irrevocable decision,” he said. “I am completely done with first class cricket.”
Srinath, 34, announced his retirement from Tests in June last year but came back after being persuaded by captain Saurav Ganguly to play in a home series against the West Indies in October.
He then guided India to the one-day World Cup final in March this year.
Srinath is India’s highest one-day wicket-taker with 315 wickets and his 236 Test victims are the second best for an Indian paceman after Kapil Dev’s record 434.
He has not played for his country since the South Africa event because of the knee injury. Srinath’s announcement comes two days before the Indian selectors are due to name the squad for a Test tour of Australia starting later this month. The tall bowler, who has led India’s new ball attack in the last decade, had recently said he would quit all cricket if he was unable to regain fitness for the Australia tour.
Ponting Whines as Ganguly’s India Gear for Crunch Week
In Bangalore, world champions Australia struggled to stifle a yawn yesterday as hosts India welcomed back captain Saurav Ganguly for the final stages of the tri-series.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting complained that his side may be short of match practice going into the Nov. 18 final in Calcutta after being made to play just two games in 15 days prior to the big day.
“It’s a bit strange to have that much of a break between games and it is not ideal going into a final,” Ponting said ahead of today’s day-night encounter against India here. But that’s the way it is and we’ve got to put up with it and prepare ourselves as well as we can for Calcutta.”
Ponting’s remarks in an era when teams often complain of over-work may sound strange, but they highlight the lop-sided schedule drawn up for the series by Indian cricket officials.
Ponting said the return of Ganguly into the Indian side did not matter much for Australia. “There is no added pressure on us. There might be some pressure on him as he did not play any cricket for quite a while,” the Australian captain said.
Ganguly returns after a three-week lay off due to a thigh injury which forced him to miss the second Test against New Zealand and four matches of the one-day series.
“It was very frustrating sitting out and watching the team play,” Ganguly said. “I am desperate to get back to action.” Coach John Wright said Ganguly’s return will bolster the batting which has worked in fits and starts to leave India with just one win in four games.
