Chairman of selectors seeks Srinath comeback

Newly appointed chairman of selectors Brijesh Patel will try to persuade Javagal Srinath out of retirement.

India take on West Indies in a three Test and seven one-day series at home soon after the ICC Champions Trophy and Patel wants Srinath to reconsider his decision to retire from Test cricket..

Patel said: "I will definitely be speaking to Srinath about playing Test matches again."

"The new ball attack is a bit of a worry," said Patel.

Patel, as secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, has tried to make Srinath reconsider before.

Srinath has repeatedly claimed that the strain of playing Test cricket was too much for him and that he would prefer to concentrate on the shorter version of the game in the lead up to the forthcoming World Cup in South Africa.

The 33-year-old Karnataka mediumpacer hung up his boots after India's tour of West Indies, where he was visibly flagging at the end of five Tests.

Since then Srinath has been ignored by the selectors for the one-dayers.

Whether the revamped selection committee can persuade the mediumpacer, currently playing for Leicestershire in the English county circuit, to return to the game remains to be seen. Only two days ago Srinath scalped four wickets in seven balls including a hat-trick against champions Surrey.

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has often said that he wanted Srinath to re-consider his position and return to the side.