Ajit Agarkar

Ajit Agarkar is among the few successful right-arm fast medium bowlers in the Indian cricket team whose batting efforts have also been applauded from the highest quarters. Born on the 4th of December 1977 in Mumbai, Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar entered international cricketing arena in as early as April 1998. He is married to Fatima Ghadially and also has a son named Raj.

Ajit Agarkar holds the world record for the fastest 50 wickets in ODI format of the game and another world record for getting 200 wickets and 1000 runs in the least number of cricket matches. He accomplished feat in 133 matches and broke the previous record held by South African player Shaun Pollock who had achieved the same in no less than 138 matches.

Agarkar was recognized for his potential as a right-handed batsman after scoring an ecstatic unbeaten Test century at Lord's in 2002 but failed to keep up with his form belying the expectations of the Indian cricket fans. Nonetheless, Ajit Agarkar's talent as a fast medium pace bowler improved a great deal with the passage of time, which earned him most of the cricketing success he has been known for.

Agarkar's Test career as a bowler has been largely unimpressive so far with relatively few outstanding performances to his credit in comparison to the ODI career. One of the instances, where Ajit Agarkar made a successful impression as a Test bowler was at Adelaide in 2003 when he fetched 6 Australian wickets for 41 runs, which helped India win the first Test against Australia in nearly two decades.

In ODI format of the game, Ajit Agarkar has been far more fortunate and has been able to exploit his talent as a pace bowler for the good of Indian cricket. He has represented India in the 1999, 2003 and 2007 Cricket World Cups as well. After remaining on and off with his form and being included and excluded from the squad due to his effective but equally expensive bowling efforts, he proved to be quite successful in the West Indies tour of 2006 which earned him a regular place in the side.

Ajit Agarkar's potential as an effective lower-order right-handed batsman has also not gone unnoticed but his form with the bat has been far too erratic to be relied upon in any kind of pressure situation.

Despite all the shortcomings, Agarkar represents a potent piece of bowling weaponry in the arsenal of Indian cricket which has yet to be exploited to its full potential.