July 03  
Srinath rejects Ganguly's comeback plea

NEW DELHI: India's pace spearhead Javagal Srinath on Tuesday rejected an appeal by captain Sourav Ganguly to make himself available for next month's Test series against England. Srinath, 32, retired from Test cricket after the West Indies tour in June, saying he wanted to concentrate on next year's World Cup in South Africa. The Indian selectors, however, snubbed the lanky seamer by ignoring him for the ongoing tri-series against Sri Lanka and England.

Ganguly, who had earlier made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade Srinath to reconsider his retirement from Test cricket, pleaded once again for his strike bowler to return to the fold. "I've seen a lot of people come back from retirement and I have my fingers crossed with Jav," Ganguly said. "He's still got a lot of cricket to offer and I hope he changes his mind."

But Srinath, whose 232 wickets in 64 matches make him India's second most successful fast bowler behind Kapil Dev's tally of 434, refused to take the bait. "I have taken a stand and I should stick to it," Srinath said from his home in Bangalore. "I'll talk to Ganguly if he calls, but I doubt I'll come back from retirement. I have made up my mind to quit."

India are due to play four Tests against England at the conclusion of the ongoing tri-series. Srinath's absence has left India short of experience in the new-ball attack with Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan and Tinu Yohannan having a combined tally of just 37 Tests. Ganguly's men, however, made a promising start to the tri-series, defeating both England and Sri Lanka in their opening matches over the weekend.