He was as soon as thought-about promising sufficient with the bat for Sachin Tendulkar at hand him a pair of batting gloves. Lengthy earlier than worldwide cricket entered the image, he had skilled beneath famend Mumbai coach Ramakant Achrekar and even struck a triple century within the Giles Protect. Years later, he would stroll out at No.3 for India in an ODI and are available inside 5 runs of a century.
There are extra contradictions. This participant as soon as smashed an ODI half-century from simply 21 balls, a file that continues to be the quickest fifty by an Indian within the format. In opposition to Zimbabwe at Rajkot in 2000, he completed unbeaten on 67 from solely 25 deliveries, hanging seven fours and 4 sixes, after which contributed with the ball as properly. Two years later, promoted to No.3 in opposition to West Indies in Jamshedpur, he made 95 from 102 balls. But batting was by no means the talent for which India primarily picked him.
With the ball, he had already introduced himself spectacularly. After making his ODI debut in opposition to Australia in Kochi in April 1998 and claiming Adam Gilchrist as his first worldwide wicket, he raced to 50 ODI wickets in solely 23 matches. On the time, no one within the historical past of the format had reached the landmark quicker, with Dennis Lillee’s earlier file of 24 matches falling. The world file has since been bettered, however no Indian has reached 50 ODI wickets faster.
The cricketer behind this assortment of unlikely numbers was Ajit Agarkar, whose worldwide profession not often adopted a predictable script. A quick bowler able to producing decisive spells, Agarkar additionally collected sufficient weird batting achievements and spectacular failures to make his numbers look as if they belonged to a number of totally different gamers.
From the ‘Bombay Duck’ to a Lord’s hundred
Maybe nothing captures Agarkar’s profession higher than what occurred in opposition to Australia after which at Lord’s. In opposition to the Australians, he endured seven successive geese in Take a look at innings, a sequence that contributed to the notorious “Bombay Duck” tag. 5 of these geese got here throughout India’s 1999-2000 tour of Australia. For a participant who had entered senior cricket with appreciable batting promise, it grew to become probably the most memorable undesirable sequences related to an Indian worldwide.
After which got here Lord’s. Within the first Take a look at in opposition to England in 2002, Agarkar made an unbeaten 109 from 190 deliveries, hitting 16 fours. It remained his solely Take a look at century, nevertheless it positioned his title on the Lord’s honours board. The achievement got here with an irresistible piece of trivia: Sachin Tendulkar, regardless of every thing he completed in Take a look at cricket, by no means made a Take a look at hundred at Lord’s. Agarkar did.
He would later have some enjoyable with that distinction whereas sharing a dressing room with Ricky Ponting at Kolkata Knight Riders. Agarkar recalled teasing the Australian nice about their information on the floor, asking him what number of lots of he had at Lord’s. It was the type of line solely a participant with Agarkar’s peculiar profession may legitimately ship.
His most necessary Take a look at contribution with the ball arrived in one other place the place India had historically struggled. At Adelaide in December 2003, Agarkar took 6 for 41 in Australia’s second innings, serving to dismiss the hosts for 196. India then chased 230 to finish a well-known four-wicket victory, their first Take a look at win in Australia for almost 23 years. Rahul Dravid struck the successful runs; fittingly, Agarkar was standing unbeaten on the different finish with out having confronted a supply.
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His ODI profession was much more substantial. Agarkar completed with 288 wickets in 191 matches, alongside 1,269 runs. In 2004, he additionally grew to become the quickest participant on the time to finish the ODI double of 1,000 runs and 200 wickets, getting there in his 133rd match. He was a part of India’s first-ever T20I in 2006, taking 2 for 10 in opposition to South Africa, and was additionally a member of the squad that received the inaugural World Twenty20 the next 12 months.
Years after his enjoying profession ended, Agarkar discovered himself on the opposite facet of maybe cricket’s most unforgiving dialog: choice. In July 2023, he was appointed chairman of India’s senior males’s choice committee. Practically three years later, he stays on the head of a panel that additionally contains Shiv Sundar Das, Ajay Ratra, RP Singh and Pragyan Ojha, overseeing India via a interval of great transition.
There’s a neat symmetry to it. The person whose personal profession lurched between choice battles, unforgettable highs, undesirable information and sudden reinventions is now amongst these deciding who will get India’s subsequent alternative. And along with his present time period approaching the three-year mark and discussions round his future persevering with, Agarkar’s affect on Indian cricket might but stretch significantly additional than even his splendidly unpredictable enjoying profession did.
