Birthday Special: On This Day, Javagal Srinath, India's lone pace warrior was born

Did you know who wore jersey number 7 for India before MS Dhoni and undoubtedly made it famous with his raw jaw-breaking pace? Yes, labelled as the Mysore Express, the fastest pacer of India of yesteryears, Javagal Srinath, celebrated his 55th birthday today. On this special occasion, it will only be apt to underscore a fistful of lesser-known facts about one of the finest greats of Indian cricketing lore.

To start with, how lethal the pacer was can be understood by the fact that Srinath after having retired from the ODIs in 2002, was recalled by the Captain of India, Sourav Ganguly, specifically for the ODI cricket World Cup which took place a year later. 

Hence it has rarely happened that a pacer who willingly hung his boots was pushed by the national captain to give one last burst for the country at the biggest level of all. His bowling genius and raw pace bamboozled nearly every batter who has ever faced him. As a result, his vital contributions led Team India to the final of the World Cup that year.

Let's have a look at some of the impeccable records of the bowling maestro:

1) 13 wickets in a single Test match stands to date

Javagal Srinath, with his impeccable inswingers coupled with menacing old ball spells, scalped five and eight wickets in Pakistan's first and second innings, respectively. Despite Pakistan emerging as the eventual winners of the first game of the Asian Test Championship in 1999 by 46 runs, that particular game is still remembered for Srinath's exemplary spell of fast bowling.

2) Second-leading wicket-taker for India in ODIs

The former right-arm fast-medium bowler has 315 dismissals under his belt in the 229 matches he has featured in. He is only behind legendary leg-spinner, Anil Kumble, in the wicket-taking tally in the 50-over format as far as Indians are concerned. With seven four and three five-wicket hauls, Srinath maintained a noteworthy economy rate of 4.44 throughout his ODI career.

3) Came out of retirement on Captain's insistence to play for India in 2003 World Cup 

Having originally hung his boots in June 2002, Javagal Srinath, at the request of the skipper of the Indian team at that point of time, Sourav Ganguly, returned into the mix for the 50-over World Cup which was played in South Africa the following year.

Check out his special bowling effort of the 2003 World Cup here:

Javagal Srinath 4 Wickets against Srilanka, CWC 2003 pic.twitter.com/RYozO1oWSv

— Best Of Bowlers (@BestOfBowlers) July 28, 2024

4) Leading wicket-taker for India in the 1999 ODI World Cup

The Mysore Express was the leading ODI World Cup wicket-taker from the Indian contingent in the 1999 edition of the ODI World Cup with 12 wickets to his name.

5) Fourth most matches as a match referee in ODIs

Post his decorated cricketing career, Srinath was shortlisted as a match referee by the International Cricket Council,  a post which he held from 2006 to last year. With 268 matches administered, Srinath stands at fourth in the elusive list of match referees having officiated the 50-over format on an international scale.