At the age of 33, cricketers are in the vicinity of their peak and to retire at the age, is unfathomable. However, former Indian speedster, Javagal Srinath, had to make the difficult call to draw curtains to his successful period.
For many decades, the Indian bowling attack was more renowned for its quality spinners, rather than producing fast bowlers.
But it all changed with the debut of Karnataka pacer Srinath who could express pace, above 150+ kmph.
Earlier, Srinath expressed his dissatisfaction at being dropped during the 2002 England tour. He even denied Sourav Ganguly who insisted the pacer to come back in the side but opted to play County cricket. This time around, Srinath went on to reveal what caused him to retire at the age of 33.
“My hands and knees had gone down. At that time, Zaheer and Ashish were there. When I used to play, only one of them used to get a chance,” Srinath said Star Sports 1 Kannada’s new show ‘Diggajara Danthakathe’.
His international comeback was well staged with stellar performances in the subsequent New Zealand tour, followed by the 2003 ODI World Cup in South Africa.
Moreover, the heartbreaking Indian loss to Australia in the finals of the showpiece event in 2003, turned out to be the final game for Srinath’s career, citing knee issues.
“Sometimes on the pitch, if there are only two fast bowlers, it used to become difficult (to slot in another). And I found it difficult to bowl on India pitches. I was already 33 at that time. I could probably play for another year, but my knees made it difficult,” the cricketer turned match referee reckoned.
Srinath bowled alongside the likes of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, in the star-studded Indian lineup.
“But that became difficult because of the changes. Later on, Zaheer and Ashish came and ramped up quickly. At that time, we were able to produce results. Spinners Anil (Kumble) and Harbhajan (Singh) formed a terrific pair together. Fast bowling used to miss that a lot,” Srinath concluded.
