NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Indian fast bowler Javagal Srinath announced his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday following a prolonged knee injury.

“I have made an irrevocable decision,” he said. “I am completely done with first class cricket.”

Srinath, 34, announced his retirement from Tests in June last year but came back after being persuaded by captain Saurav Ganguly to play in a home series against the West Indies in October.

He then guided India to the one-day World Cup final in March this year.

Srinath is India’s highest one-day wicket-taker with 315 wickets and his 236 Test victims are the second best for an Indian paceman after Kapil Dev’s record 434.

He has not played for his country since the South Africa event because of the knee injury.

Srinath’s announcement comes two days before the Indian selectors are due to name the squad for a test tour of Australia starting later this month.

The tall bowler, who has led India’s new ball attack in the last decade, had recently said he would quit all cricket if he was unable to regain fitness for the Australia tour.—Reuters