Javagal Srinath’s retirement stories always come surrounded by an element of intrigue. After his ‘to-quit-or-not-to-quit’ plans soon after the World Cup, there’s now a report from London (without quotes from the player or officials) that Srinath, the coach-cum-player of Durham, has decided to hang his boots from first class cricket.Neither the chairman of the national selection committee, Brijesh Patel, nor BCCI secretary SK Nair could confirm the news when contacted by The Sunday Express. Both had, however, confirmed that they had not received any communication from the Indian pace spearhead.But that is of no significance since Srinath had followed a similar pattern when he had decided to hang his boots from Test cricket. During the West Indies series in 2002 he had first announced his decision to the media and followed it up by intimating the Board.The report suggesting Srinath’s retirement, which appeared in The Daily Telegraph, however, ended with this cryptic line: Srinath will continue to play limited-overs cricket.But that hardly lends any credibility to the news as Srinath had long back insisted that he was not keen on playing Tests and World Cup was his main goal. And the brilliant performance in South Africa, where he had a haul of 16 wickets, showed that he would be part of the Indian squad for some more time.But what the latest sortie by Srinath has done is to raise a few basic questions: Can a player who doesn’t play domestic cricket be considered for the national team? Patel says: ‘‘It is for the Board to decide.’’ But if that happens, considering Srinath’s stature, it will not only be unfair on fringe players, who go through the Ranji grind, but probably a historic first.Secondly, what would Durham say on this? Srinath is their paid professional. There is bound to be a few embarrassing faces around as Srinath, within days of his landing in England, announces his decision to quit first-class cricket.A fit case to seek a refund from the player.
