‘He Was Right up There’: Parthiv Patel Draws Comparison Between Glenn McGrath and Javagal Srinath
Parthiv Patel, who made his Test debut in 2002, came into the scenario when Srinath was at the fag-end of his career. However, the southpaw claimed that the legendary Indian pacer was ‘right up there.’ “Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath were playing, so that was a big challenge too.
With the presence of fast bowlers like Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, the current Indian pace attack is one of the best in the world and not many batsmen around the world would enjoy facing these bowlers. However, that wasn’t the case always. Back in the time, the Indian cricket team was mostly known to produce brilliant batsmen and lethal spinners. Nevertheless, the likes of Kapil Dev, Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan did leave a mark. Recently, India wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel compared Srinath with Aussie legend Glenn McGrath and revealed that keeping against the Karnataka-born pacer wasn’t an easy job. When Parthiv Patel Sledged Steve Waugh’s Son Austin Using Australian Cricketer's Famous Line.
Patel, who made his Test debut in 2002, came into the scenario when Srinath was at the fag-end of his career. However, the southpaw claimed that the legendary Indian pacer was ‘right up there.’ “Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath were playing, so that was a big challenge too. There isn’t much of bounce and the ball comes at a good pace. People talk about Glenn McGrath, but the first time I kept against Sribhai he was right there and there about all the time and with good pace and bounce,” said Parthiv to Rediff.com.
The Gujarat-born cricketer kept wickets in Srinath’s last test against West Indies in 2002. “Sribhai was playing in his last series; he did not play any Tests after that. Even in his last series, he was getting a lot of bounce and at a very good pace. He was also very accurate,” Parthiv added.
Srinath announced his retirement in 2002. However, on the request of the then Indian skipper, he came back to play the 2003 World Cup and played a crucial role in guiding India to the finals. He eventually retired after the gala tournament. In total, the right-arm pacer claimed 236 and 315 wickets in 67 Tests and 229 ODIs respectively.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 06, 2020 11:49 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).