Mumbai has a long list of batsmen to boast about : Tendulkar, Gavaskar, Vengsarkar et al. But there is a bowler who made Mumbai and India proud and now he has decided to hang his boots. After Sachin, now it is the turn of another Mumbaikar to say good bye from all forms of cricket. The enigma, the man, Ajit Agarkar will never be seen on a cricket field again.
Indian sports lovers never really could appreciate what he did for Indian cricket. In 191 ODIs he took 288 wickets which is no mean feat. And it is all the more evident from the fact that he is the third highest wicket taker for India in ODIs (with a bowling average below 30), third only to the great Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath. He was also the fastest to 50 wickets at that time, which he achieved in just 23 matches (record was eventually broken by Ajantha Mendis of Srilanka).
He could easily slip into India’s all time eleven in ODIs but am sure he would not feature in it because he was not a crowd/spectator favorite (like a Rohit or an animated Virat or a sledging Ishant Sharma). But he still served the country and his Ranji side Mumbai with full passion and commitment.
Everybody remembers him for his 5 consecutive ducks against the Australians, but few remember his century at the Lord’s (only 7 other Indians have scored a century at Lord’s). His batting exploits don’t end there, he holds the record for the fastest fifty in ODIs for India (in just 21 balls).
On the all-rounder front Ajit holds one another record which am sure nobody is aware of: he is fastest to 200 wickets and 1000 runs in ODI cricket, the feat which he achieved in just 133 matches (record previously held by Shaun Pollock of South Africa).
He was also the captain of the Mumbai Ranji team when it won the Ranji title in 2012.
Today is an era of short memories, we go gaga over a 50 by Sanju Samson or a hatrick by Ajit Chandila (although he is now famous for his off the field antics) but fail to notice a player of Ajit’s stature. If IPL had started in his prime he would be a billionaire by now, but he just went past his peak at the wrong time.
He played the game like a gentleman, hardly sledged anyone, very soft spoken.
People accuse him of not doing great in the tests. Agreed. But then Rohit Sharma has not done anything either in either of the versions but still we can’t stop talking about him.
India is a land of batsmen where bowlers are not talked about that often but when we get bowlers like Agarkar we love to ignore them.
I hope he serves Indian cricket in some form or the other in the near future, young Indian bowlers can learn a lot from him.