Javagal Srinath

Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer 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 born in August 1969 at Javagal in Karnataka.

He played cricket from an early age.

He attended Marimallappa High School and has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in instrumentation from Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE) in Mysore.

He made his first-class debut for Karnataka against Hyderabad in 1989–90, taking a hat-trick 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 against Maharashtra at Nehru Stadium in Pune, 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 of 24.06 runs per wicket for Karnataka.

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.

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 in Cape Town, 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.

In the four World Cup's he played in: 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003, he took 44 wickets and was the joint highest wicket-taker for India in World Cups with Zaheer Khan.

He is one of the fastest bowlers to have played for India.

Following the retirement of Kapil Dev in late 1994, Srinath played his first home Test match, playing against the West Indies.

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.

He played in English county cricket for Gloucestershire in 1995 and took 87 wickets that season, including 9/76 against Glamorgan.

Srinath also played county cricket for Leicestershire and Durham.

In the 1997–98 series against Australia, one of Srinath's deliveries was measured at 159.6 km/h and Zimbabwe captain Alistair Campbell considered him faster than Lance Klusener and Allan Donald at their peak.

He and Grant Flower had also faced Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram.

His fastest recorded ball was 157 km/h.

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.

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.

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.

He married his first wife, Jyothsna, in 1999.

With India, Srinath was a member of the Indian team that was the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, a title they shared with Sri Lanka, and was a member of the team that were runners-up in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

Srinath was a frontline fast bowler for the Indian cricket team until his retirement, and the second Indian pace bowler after Kapil Dev to take 200 Test match wickets.

After Kapil 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.

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

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.

After their divorce, he married journalist Madhavi Patravali in 2008.

Srinath caught the eye of former Indian Test batsman Gundappa Viswanath, a selector for the state team, during a club match.