Ajit Agarkar

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Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar (Marathi: अजित भालचंद्र आगरकर) pronunciation (help·info) (born 4 December 1977 in Mumbai - formerly Bombay) is an Indian international cricketer, who has been on the fringes of the Indian side in both tests and one day matches since his debut in 1998. He is a fast bowling all-rounder, who usually bats just below the wicket keeper at number 8, and often opens the bowling.

Personal life

A resident of Narayan Pujari Nagar on Worli Seaface, he was raised by his grandparents at Shivaji Park where many a great cricketer practised and went on to play for India. He is an alumnus of Ruparel College in Matunga, Mumbai. He is married to Fatima and they have a son named Raj.

Career

Agarkar made his ODI debut against Australia in Kochi, on 1 April 1998. He took the crucial wicket of Adam Gilchrist in that match.

Throughout Agarkar's international career, he has been on the fringes of the Indian side. He was touted by many as being India's next great fast bowling all-rounder, like Kapil Dev, however his performances have never been consistent enough.

Amongst Agarkar's better performances were his performances in Australia in the Test series of 1999, and also in the test series in 2003. At Adelaide Oval in 2003, Agarkar took 6/41, to help India to win their first test in Australia in over 20 years.

Agarkar has performed better in ODI cricket, where he takes wickets regularly, although his economy rate is high. He has also had a number of good batting performances. He was the best Indian bowler in the one day series during India's tour of West Indies in 2006.

Agarkar represents Kolkata Knight Riders in Indian Premier League.

Records

Early in his career, Agarkar broke Shane Warne's world record for the fastest 50 wickets in ODIs, achieving the feat from only 23 matches. He held the record from 1998 until 2009, when Ajantha Mendis achieved the feat from just 19 matches. Agarkar holds the Indian record of scoring the fastest 50 in ODI: he scored 50 of 21 balls. Agarkar also holds another ODI record, which is the quickest in terms of least number of matches played to take 200 wickets and complete 1000 runs. Agarkar achieved this feat in 133 matches breaking the previous record held by South African Shaun Pollock, who accomplished this feat in his 138th match.

He scored an unbeaten Test century at Lord's in 2002, batting at number eight.

Conversely, Agarkar jointly holds the Test record with a consecutive five ducks.

External links

• Cricinfo Player Profile : Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar

v • d • e India squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup 1 Azharuddin (c) • 2 Ganguly • 3 Jadeja • 4 Ramesh • 5 Dravid • 6 Robin Singh • 7 Agarkar • 8 Kumble • 9 Mongia (wk) • 10 Tendulkar • 11 Prasad • 12 Chopra • 13 Mohanty • 14 Srinath • 15 Khurasiya • Coach: Gaekwad

v • d • e India squad – 2003 Cricket World Cup Runners-up 3 Harbhajan Singh · 5 Dravid · 7 Srinath · 9 Agarkar · 10 Tendulkar · 11 Kaif · 12 Yuvraj Singh · 18 Kumble · 20 Patel · 24 Ganguly (c) · 28 Mongia · 34 Zaheer · 44 Sehwag · 64 Nehra · 66 Bangar · Coach: Wright

v • d • e India squad – 2007 Cricket World Cup 3 Harbhajan · 7 Dhoni · 10 Tendulkar · 12 Yuvraj · 13 Patel · 19 Dravid (c) · 21 Ganguly · 27 Uthappa · 34 Zaheer · 36 Sreesanth · 37 Kumble · 44 Sehwag · 56 Pathan · 68 Agarkar · 99 Karthik · Coach: Chappell

v • d • e India squad – 2007 ICC World Twenty20 Winners (1st Title) 1 Harbhajan · 2 Dhoni ·(c) 3 R Sharma · 4 Yuvraj · 5 Joginder · 6 YK Pathan · 7 Gambhir · 8 Uthappa · 9 R P Singh · 10 Sreesanth · 11 Chawla · 44 Sehwag · 12 IK Pathan · 13 Agarkar · 14 Karthik · Coach: Rajput