At the age of 21, He made his One Day International (ODI) debut against England in Ahmedabad on 25 November 1981. Opening the batting with Sunil Gavaskar, he scored a duck and India lost by 5 wickets.[9] He made his Test debut two days later against England at Bombay. Though he bagged another duck in the first innings and scored just 13 runs in the second innings, India won the match by 138 runs.[10]
Srikkanth has his most prolific years in terms of runs from 1986 to 1988 when he scored two centuries in tests and four centuries in ODIs.[16] Srikkanth scored his first century in test cricket in the third test against Australia at Sydney on 2 January 1986.[17] He scored his second and last test century against the visiting Pakistan at his home ground at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai in February 1987.[18] His first ODI century came against Australia on 7 September 1986 in Jaipur.[19]
He was also part of the Indian team that competed in the 1987 Cricket World Cup.[20] He scored 70 runs and took five wickets against New Zealand in an ODI match at Visakhapatnam on 10 December 1988.[21] In the process, he became the second person ever to record the feat of scoring a fifty and taking a five for in the same ODI match after Viv Richards.[22]
Captaincy of national team
In 1989, he was appointed captain of the captain of the Indian team.[23]Sachin Tendulkar made his debut under Srikkanth's captaincy in November 1989 against Pakistan.[24] He served as the captain of the test team for only four matches during the India's tour of Pakistan in 1990 and drew all the matches.[25] He also captained the Indian team in 13 ODIs winning four and losing eight.[26]
Later career and retirement
Srikkanth played his last test match in February 1992 against Australia in Perth.[27] He scored 72 runs in the match and took five catches, all in the first innings setting a record for the most individual catches by a non wicket keeper in an innings of a test match.[28] He was named as part of the Indian team that competed in the 1992 Cricket World Cup and holds the unusual record of scoring the only run ever scored in international cricket at Ray Mitchell Oval, in Mackay, Australia when the only international match ever hosted at the venue was washed out after two deliveries.[29] He retired from international cricket in March 1992 after the world cup with his last match coming against South Africa at Adelaide.[7]
Playing style
Srikkanth was an opening batsman and was noted for his aggressive attacking strokes.[13] Srikkanth was known for his super-quick reflexes and scored majority of his runs by pulling and hooking or driving.[7] Though his batting style was in stark contrast to his long time opening partner Sunil Gavaskar, who was known for his reserved approach, Gavaskar himself has said that Srikkanth's batting liberated him to play his natural game.[13] He targeted the new ball when it is hard and often scores his runs with hits over the infield with the aid of fielding restrictions during the initial overs in the later years.[13] Srikkanth is considered one of the pioneers of pinch hitting in cricket years before Ian Botham and Mark Greatbatch tried it in 1992 and Sanath Jayasuriya popularized during the 1996 Cricket World Cup.[30][31] He was one of the most entertaining batters of his era.[32]
Post retirement, Srikkanth served as the coach of the India A cricket team.[33] On 18 February 2008, Srikkanth was named as an ambassador for the Chennai Super Kings franchise for the inaugural season of the Indian Premier LeagueT20 competition.[34] On 27 September 2008, he was appointed the Chief Selector of the Indian cricket team and served till 2011.[35] The selection committee led by him picked up the Indian team that won its second ever world cup in 2011. On 20 December 2012, Srikkanth was named the ambassador for the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise of Indian Premier League.[36]
Commentator and administrator
He has served as a sport commentator with various sports and news channels.[33] Srikkanth was nominated as a member of the panel of All India Council of Sports (AICS) in January 2020.[37]
Television
In June 2013, Srikkanth participated in the 6th season of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.[38] In February 2022, he participated in StarPlus's Smart Jodi as Contestant with his wife, Vidya.[39]
Srikkanth has scored 2,062 runs in 43 matches in tests at a batting average of 29.88. He has scored 4,091 runs in 146 ODI matches at an average of 29.01.[7]
An innings-by-innings breakdown of Srikkanth's Test match batting career showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line)
Centuries
Srikkanth scored two centuries in tests and four centuries in ODIs.[16]
In 1989, Srikkanth was appointed captain of the captain of the Indian team and served as the captain of the test team for four matches.[23] He also captained the Indian team in 13 ODIs winning four and losing eight.[26]
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