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The Forgotten Warriors Ep 9Ajit Agarkar: @imAagarkar
Part 1: The Career
Aus vs Ind, 2nd Test, Adelaide, 2003
Aus: 556, Ind: 523. Aus lead by 33 runs.
Thanks to @VVSLaxman281(148) and Dravid's 233, Ind were able to come closer to Aus 1st inns 556. Aus had a slender lead..
Of 33 runs despite the 303 run partnership btw the Indian duo. Aus, however, needed a strong start. It was Day 4. India needed quick wkts to make anything out of this test match. Aus 10/0, Langer on strike. @imAagarkar comes charging in, bowls a middle & offstump line to the..
left hander..the ball nips back-in viciously hitting the pads. Bang! Ind get the start. @imAagarkar however, was just starting! Soon, he lured @RickyPonting, the 1st inns hero, to cut straight into the hands of gully for a duck. Aus 18/2. Aus afluttered. Ind thrilled. 
The start given by @imAagarkar made sure Aus were kept on check despite fighting knocks from Waugh, @damienmartyn, @gilly381. Aus reached 184/6. Ind just had Gilchrist. Sensing the need of the hour and Ind's problems in dismissing tailender's. @SGanguly99 hands over the ball..
@imAagarkar and he responds in the best way possible by dismissing the last 4 batsmen all on his own. The score from 184/6 soon became 196 all out. The best wicket among these 4 was of Katich who was setup to play a bouncer away from his body. The pull, the catch and gone.
@imAagarkar helps Ind dismiss Aus in a day which meant Ind get 230 to chase on the 5th day, which they do in style. Ind's 1st test win in Aus wouldn't have been possible without @imAagarkar's mind boggling 6/41. It also came when Ind had lost @ImZaheer to injury in the 1st..
test and had two new left armers in @IrfanPathan and Nehra (rel. new in tests). The one who watch @imAagarkar that day would know how much he enjoyed being on the field and doing what he did. The affair with cricket for the 1977 born kid was since the time he started playing.
Early CareerFew might know that @imAagarkar was initially a batsmen in his U16 days. He scored heavily in Shield as well as had a triple
on his name. His batting expolits made him famous as "next Tendulkar" but thanks to stiff competition for place, he had to..
..develop his bowling to get into the Ranji team. The All-Rounder soon got noticed for his pace and conventional swing along with his lower order hitting that gave him his ODI cap on 1st Apr 1998 against Aus and he was on target since the beginning as he took 58 wickets
In 1998. While his test debut wasn't the best as he could get only 2 wickets in the only match he played against Zim that year. His ODI heroics made him the fastest to reach 50 wkts in 23 ODIs breaking Lillee's feat. A record he keeps for 11 yrs before Mendis (19) breaks it. 
2 Best PerformancesInd 220/9, NZ 205 all out. @imAagarkar
4/35.
The 1st match in the Coca Cola cup had everything. From an aggressive opening stand of 76 between @sachin_rt and @SGanguly99 with latter scoring a fighting 105 to a collapse 4-190 to 9-220. NZ, however,..
..came across 20 year old young @imAagarkar. On a slow pitch, NZ needed a good start. The first over, 5th ball, Agarkar bowls an outswinger. Nick, caught by keeper. NZ 0/1 in 0.5 overs. NZ 4-170, @SPFleming7 going strong at 75 with C McMillan at 49. @imAagarkar first bowls..
.. a slower one to fox Fleming and then reverse one to dismiss Millan. He later takes one more as Ind dismiss NZ for 202.
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Ind vs Aus, Melbourne, @imAagarkar 6-42.
His 6-41 in Adelaide was followed by 6-42 in Melbourne in 2004. The format was different this time.
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Ind vs Aus, Melbourne, @imAagarkar 6-42.
His 6-41 in Adelaide was followed by 6-42 in Melbourne in 2004. The format was different this time.
On a batting pitch, @imAagarkar first dismissed dangerous looking @gilly381 for 34. Aus 59/1 in 8.5 overs! And then dismisses @HaydosTweets. Both with the help of some amazing catching from @IrfanPathan and @YUVSTRONG12. He also breaks stand btw @RoySymonds63 & @MClarke23
..that looked like taking the score to 300. Thanks to @imAagarkar, Ind were able to restrict Aus for 288. However, the score turns out to be enough as Aus restrict Ind for 270.
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Overall, Agarkar played 191 ODI matches. He took 288 wickets becoming the 3rd highest wkt-taker
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Overall, Agarkar played 191 ODI matches. He took 288 wickets becoming the 3rd highest wkt-taker
..for India in ODIs. In the process, he became the fastest bowler to reach 200 wickets in ODI (133 matches). He also holds the record for fastest 50 (21 balls) in ODIs for Ind!
As a test player, he had 1 fifer in the 26 matches he played and avgd mediocre 47 with the ball.
As a test player, he had 1 fifer in the 26 matches he played and avgd mediocre 47 with the ball.
In tests, He was more known for his 7 consecutive ducks, 4 off them were golden ducks and a at lords that has been achieved only by 8 other Indian players.
Definitely, his love for game, made him enjoy these moments. Be it raising the bat after scoring 1st run..
at lords that has been achieved only by 8 other Indian players.Definitely, his love for game, made him enjoy these moments. Be it raising the bat after scoring 1st run..
.. post the 7 ducks or while foxing opposition batters or for scoring a 100 at lord's. He showed us how important it is to enjoy what you do irrespective of the qualities one have. End of Part-1.
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Part-2
ODI Career in Numbers
are yearwise ODI performances, he had..
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Part-2
ODI Career in Numbers are yearwise ODI performances, he had..
2 instances where he took more than 35 wickets that put him in elite list of bowlers as shown in pic 1. He was among the 28 bowlers to do so. Pic 2 & 3, shows his distribution as per countries and teams. SL was his fav team, he was equally good in NZ, WI, Ind and Aus!
in pic 1. He was among the 28 bowlers to do so. Pic 2 & 3, shows his distribution as per countries and teams. SL was his fav team, he was equally good in NZ, WI, Ind and Aus!
Against Top 7 teamsAs seen
in pic 2 & 3, he played against everyone, & everywhere (in 17 countries). So taking the top 7 teams into consideration, his performances in SENA-W is as pic 1. Pic 2 shows his figures against top 7 teams. Overall, he had 208 wickets..
.. at an avg of 30.27. As shown in pic 1 He was still among the top 5 wkt takers, & avg, took a 4-fer every 18.3 innings (slightly more than his career frequency of 15.6). Coming to 4-fers, he had the best frequency compared to other Ind bowlers who had above 200 wkts. Pic 2
He was still among the top 5 wkt takers, & avg, took a 4-fer every 18.3 innings (slightly more than his career frequency of 15.6). Coming to 4-fers, he had the best frequency compared to other Ind bowlers who had above 200 wkts. Pic 2
And as pic 3 shows, he was among the 11 bowlers in the world to take a 4fer below 20 matches (freq). While calculating the impact in India' win @imAagarkar was among the top 5 as shown in pic 1. His impact against top 8 teams was 2nd best. Only @MdShami11(ranked 11) was..
shows, he was among the 11 bowlers in the world to take a 4fer below 20 matches (freq). While calculating the impact in India' win @imAagarkar was among the top 5 as shown in pic 1. His impact against top 8 teams was 2nd best. Only @MdShami11(ranked 11) was..
.. in the top 20 list in the world. As @imAagarkar was ranked 28th in the list as shown in pic 3. Considering AESR value, he was among the top 5 with ER being the 2nd best in pic 1. Further analysis, showed that (pic 2) he was also best in getting Lbws and bowled..
. Considering AESR value, he was among the top 5 with ER being the 2nd best in pic 1. Further analysis, showed that (pic 2) he was also best in getting Lbws and bowled..
..among the other 4 bowlers. The best part was his segregation of wickets in terms of Top, Middle and lower order batsmen. One more fact, was he had dismissed 21 top order batsmen for duck. Easily the best.45% of his wickets were top order batters! 32 off them MO!
The above analysis proves that he was best against the best. Despite that, he has just 6 WC games to show. If it comes to impact, he is right up there among the Ind bowlers. Infact, the best in the last decade! This was my effort to remind you all a career that was plagued..
..with injuries and subdued Test career compared to his ODI exploits. We also saw his ER was a bit on higher side in those days but not among the worst. Therefore, hope you all enjoy the thread on one of the finest ODI gem @imAagarkar. End of Part-2.
Thank you.
Thank you.
