Five successful Indian cricketers in county cricket

3. Javagal Srinath (Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and Durham)

India’s premier fast bowler of the nineties joined Gloucester for the 1995 season, following some valuable advice from West Indian great Courtney Walsh.

The latter would serve as a mentor to Srinath, instructing him on the finer points of bowling fast and consistently. He took 87 wickets for Gloucester that season, with a fiery spell of 9/76 against Glamorgan becoming his best effort.

On the subsequent tour of England in 1996, Srinath and Prasad formed a formidable fast-bowling pair as the two delivered a series of fine performances, with Prasad outshining Srinath in the wickets tally.

His ability to move the ball off the seam, complemented by swing and reverse-swing, kept batsmen hopping at the crease most of the time. It translated into a magnificent spell of 6/21 against the Proteas at Ahmedabad, shutting them out for 105.

He also reduced Pakistan to 26/6 in 1999 with a ferocious display of pace bowling that stunned the rest of the world, though India ended up losing that game.

Srinath also represented Leicestershire and Durham in the early 2000s with varying degrees of success, and his stints with both counties enabled him to shoulder the workload of being India’s premier pacer until the 2003 World Cup final, after which he announced his retirement.

He did extremely well on the faster pitches in England, South Africa and New Zealand; in fact, due to his experience of playing county cricket, about half of his 236 Test wickets came from tours abroad.