Srinath turns down Ganguly's offer

Fast bowler Javagal Srinath is unlikely to reverse his decision to retire from Test cricket despite Indian captain Sourav Ganguly's repeated appeals.

The 32-year-old paceman, who has taken 232 wickets in 64 Tests, announced his retirement last month after he taking 13 wickets in a five-Test series in the West Indies.

"I have taken a stand and I should stick to it," Srinath told Reuters by phone on Monday, a day after Ganguly, on tour with India in England, said he wanted him back in the Test side.

"I will talk to Sourav if he wants me to, but I doubt if I will come back from retirement." Ganguly had also asked him to reconsider last month.

Srinath, who is hoping to appear in his fourth World Cup in South Africa early next year, has said he is still available for one-day cricket but was not picked for the ongoing triangular series against England and Sri Lanka.

The Bangalore bowler, who claimed 128 wickets in 35 games on overseas wickets as compared to 104 from 29 on spin-friendly home pitches, is India's second most prolific fast bowler behind Kapil Dev, who took 434 wickets.

His absence is certain to diminish India's pace bowling attack in next month's four-Test series in England. Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Tinu Yohannan have a combined experience of only 37 Tests.

Srinath also took 276 wickets in one-day internationals at an average of 28.78, but injuries and a heavy Test workload saw him frequently left out of the one-day side in the last couple of seasons.

He made his debut aged 21 and made a fine comeback after surgery to repair a rotator cuff injury to his bowling shoulder in 1997.

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