[7] Srinath caught the eye of former Indian Test batsman Gundappa Viswanath, a selector for the state team, during a club match.

His second season involved a display of reverse swing against Maharashtra at Nehru Stadium in Pune, taking 7/93 to dismiss the home team for 311 in response to a Karnataka total of 638 on a good batting pitch.

With an opportunity to take the new ball against South Africa in Cape Town, he took an economical 4/33 in 27 overs and ended the tour with 12 wickets at 26.08.

In the 1997–98 Test series against Australia, one of Srinath's deliveries was measured at 149.6 kilometres per hour (93.0 mph)[9] and Zimbabwe captain Alistair Campbell considered him faster than Lance Klusener and Allan Donald at their peak.

[10] Srinath was India's only regular fast bowler for many years, and his workload is believed to have caused his injuries; he underwent surgery on his right shoulder in 1997.

[12] There were some doubts about whether he would be able to play again and when he announced his retirement in November 2003, Srinath said that he thought his career was over when he was recovering from the rotator-cuff injury.

Inactive for much of 2001 due to emerging bowlers such as Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, he played eight Test matches and 15 ODIs.

Although Srinath wanted to retire from ODI, at the request of Indian captain Sourav Ganguly he agreed to play until the World Cup.

[14] Srinath toured England with the Lashings World XI team in summer 2005, and was a commentator for the India-England test series in 2006.

[citation needed] In 2010, he and former teammate Anil Kumble contested the Karnataka State Cricket Association elections.

[citation needed] In April 2006, Srinath was selected as a match referee by the International Cricket Council and served during the 2007 World Cup.