Hope this century ends all talk
of the past: Agarkar
Ashish Shukla
Ajit Agarkar is hoping his brilliant century in India's second innings of the first Test against
England is the beginning of a new and better phase in his cricketing career.
Agarkar, who hit a confident, unbeaten 109 to chalk up his maiden
Test hundred in India's 170-run defeat, said the innings will
help in stopping people from discussing his unharnessed batting talent in the past.
"I hope it is the start of something better and I am able
to contribute in similar fashion more regularly," he said on Tuesday.
"I also hope this ends all talks of the past," he added, referring to his inglorious world record sequence of no-scores
against Australia.
Agarkar failed to score in five consecutive innings
against Australia in the 2000-01 series Down Under, getting
out off the first ball on four of those occasions. When
Australia came on a return tour to India last year, he added
two more noughts to the list.
That earned him the dubious title of 'Bombay Duck' and
severely dented his claims of being selected as an all-rounder.
But his knock on the final day of the first Test was good enough to put an end to
all doubts about his ability to bat. He almost doubled his career
Test runs aggregate of 125 before this match.
What was remarkable about his innings was the ease
and confidence with which he batted. An analysis of his
innings by Wisden showed that as much as 77 per cent of
his shots went exactly where they were intended to be hit.
That was the highest percentage of sure play by any
batsman in the Test, including the three centurions for
England - Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and John Crawley -
and Indian batting superstars Rahul Dravid, Sachin
Tendulkar and V V S Laxman.
Indeed, so supremely confident was Agarkar of himself that
he had also started entertaining hopes of batting through the
day as long as Laxman was with him at the crease.
"Probably, if Laxman had stayed put and we had gone to
lunch without losing any further wicket, we could have drawn
the game," Agarkar said.
It is a tall assertion by any means, but looking at the way he batted, it is very difficult not to
believe the wiry Mumbai all-rounder.
Agarkar and Laxman put on 126 runs for the seventh wicket
after India had collapsed to 170 for six while chasing a
mammoth total of 567. But Laxman, who made a sparkling 74, was
dismissed when he drove uppishly to be caught at point.
Agarkar was rueing that dismissal even today, saying had
Laxman been around anything could have been possible.
"You could see their bowlers were tired and they had difficulty in getting out even
the tailenders of our team," he said.
And just to stress the point that his teammates also
believed in his ability to bat, he said at no stage during the partnership did Laxman try to shield him from the
bowlers.
"When you have to last out the 120 overs of the innings,
these things are farthest from your mind," Agarkar said.
"Initially I was only content with giving him the strike
and hanging around which might have given the impression he
was shielding me.
"But there was no conscious effort from Laxman or me to
see that he takes the most of the strike. We never spoke about
it nor discussed it during the innings."
Agarkar also gave full credit to Ashish Nehra, who hung in
long enough to enable him to reach his century. When Nehra
came on to bat, he was batting on 67 and a century hardly
looked possible.
But he said he never let negative thoughts cross his
mind.
"I knew he could bat a bit. I remember a match between
Bombay and Delhi where Nehra batted the whole day. He was only
out in the final over of the day. Otherwise Delhi would have
drawn that game."
Agarkar's knock has come in for fulsome praise from all
circles for his technique and application. The great Sunil
Gavaskar noted in his column that the difference in Agarkar's
innings yesterday was that he never played across the line and
there were no flourishes over the top of mid-wicket which caused his downfall on more than one occasion.
"Yes, I was conscious not to hit in the air. I was more
content playing straight and not hitting across the line,"
he said.
Obviously delighted on getting his maiden Test hundred,
he did not attach too much significance to the fact that
it had come at Lord's.
"A Test hundred is a Test hundred and that alone is
special enough. It is a special feeling and it can only be
best in front of my home crowd in Bombay.
"It is not easy to get even a half century in Test cricket
and going past hundred is very special," said Agarkar, whose
previous best score in Test cricket was 41, against South
Africa in Mumbai two years ago.
"That's why I hope it turns out to be the start of a new
and better phase.
"It is great for the team and good for the batsmen at the
top if the lower half starts contributing regularly," he added.
While admitting that he bowled badly in the first
innings, he brushed aside suggestions that his below-par
bowling performance had made him more determined to do well
with the bat.
"Playing Test cricket is motivation enough and you don't
need any extra reason to perform well at this level. In any
case you are trying to do your best all the time."
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