Srinath to return to Test cricket, says Ganguly

At a routine press conference before India's ICC Champions Trophy final against Sri Lanka, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly confirmed that veteran medium-pacer Javagal Srinath would make a comeback in all forms of the game.

Srinath had recently retired from Test cricket and was subsequently ignored by the selectors for the one-dayers.

"He didn't want to play Test cricket. I thought we needed him in both versions of the game. We all feel that he's still good enough," said Ganguly.

The Indian captain went on to add, "We were really disappointed that he backed out in England where we needed him the most. But that is in the past."

Praising Srinath's contribution to Indian cricket, which has yielded 508 wickets in Test and one-dayers, Ganguly noted, "He's been a true performer for India. I've always told him that we needed him to play Test cricket and I believe he's done fantastically well for Leicestershire."

It must be remembered that Ganguly has repeatedly asked for Srinath's return, only to be denied. This time, however, there has been a change of heart. "He said he's going to play Tests again. He's told Brijesh (Patel) and he's told us that he'll play again," Ganguly said.

Only recently, the chairman of the selection committee, former Karnataka and India cricketer Brijesh Patel, had said that he would try to persuade Srinath to change his mind and return to both Test and one-day cricket.

Ganguly acknowledged Patel's role in making Srinath reconsider his earlier decision, saying with a chuckle, "Probably a change in the selection committee has helped in Srinath's coming back."

Srinath arrives in Colombo, from England on Saturday afternoon and his first assignment will be the Champions Trophy final where he replaces Ashish Nehra who injured his bowling hand when he attempted a run out off his bowling against South Africa. The Delhi medium-pacer split the webbing between his index and middle fingers and required five stitches.

"Srinath is coming in this afternoon and is very much in contention for the final," said Ganguly.