Debut and early years Srikkanth made his
One Day International (ODI) debut at the age of 21, against
England in
Ahmedabad on 25 November 1981. Opening the batting with
Sunil Gavaskar, and India lost by 5 wickets. He made his
Test debut two days later against England at
Bombay.
1983 World cup and rise Srikkanth was part of the
Indian cricket team that won the
1983 Cricket World Cup. He opened the batting and scored 156 runs in the tournament. In the
final against
West Indies, he top-scored with 38 runs. He was also part of the Indian team that won the 1985
World Championship of Cricket. India won the final after beating
Pakistan where he top scored with 67 runs from 77 balls and won the
Man of the match award.
Middle years Srikkanth has his most prolific years in terms of runs from 1986 to 1988 when he scored two centuries in tests and four centuries in ODIs. Srikkanth scored his first
century in test cricket in the third test against
Australia at
Sydney on 2 January 1986. He scored 70 runs and took five wickets against
New Zealand in an ODI match at
Visakhapatnam on 10 December 1988. In the process, he became the second person ever to record the feat of scoring a fifty and taking a five for in the same ODI match after
Viv Richards.
Captaincy of national team In 1989, he was appointed captain of the
captain of the Indian team.
Sachin Tendulkar made his debut under his captaincy in November 1989 against Pakistan. He served as the captain of the test team for four matches during the India's tour of Pakistan in 1990 and
drew all the matches. He also captained the Indian team in 13 ODIs winning four and losing eight.
Later career and retirement Srikkanth played his last test match in February 1992 against
Australia in
Perth. He scored 72 runs in the match and took five catches, all in the first innings setting a record for the most individual catches by a non
wicket keeper in an innings of a test match. He was named as part of the Indian team that competed in the
1992 Cricket World Cup and holds the unusual record of scoring the only run ever scored in international cricket at
Ray Mitchell Oval, in
Mackay, Australia when the only international match ever hosted at the venue was washed out after two deliveries. He retired from international cricket in March 1992 after the world cup with his last match coming against
South Africa at
Adelaide. == Playing style ==