Ajit Agarkar’s International career in numbers

Ajit Agarkar served as a strike bowler and a useful batsman down the order for India in limited-overs cricket for nearly a decade. The all-rounder represented India between 1998 and 2007 in a total of 221 games including 191 ODIs. He is famous for his Test century at the Lord’s which is not graced by many legendary batsmen and also his 2nd innings spell against Australia in Adelaide 2004. The Mumbaikar got the Bombay duck title after bagging consecutive ducks in 1999-2000.

On occasion of Ajit Agarkar’s 40th birthday, we look at his International career records.

1 – Ajit Agarkar was the first Indian to take a wicket on the very first ball in T20I cricket. He dismissed Herschelle Gibbs in India’s first ever T20I played in 2007 against South Africa. After Agarkar, Pragyan Ojha and Virat Kohli done this feat for India. So far, a total of 15 players have picked up a wicket on the first ball they bowled in T20Is with only Michael Kasprowicz doing it before Agarkar.

1 – Agarkar’s first over in T20I cricket turned out to be a maiden over. He is the only Indian to bowl the first over as maiden in this format. He was also the first Indian to bowl a maiden over in T20I cricket.

3 – He is one of the three Indian players with 1000 runs and 200 wickets in ODI cricket alongside Kapil Dev and Harbhajan Singh. He is one of the 19 players till date will this ODI double.

5 – Number of consecutive ducks Agarkar bagged in Test cricket during the 1999/00 tour of Australia. He is one of the three players till date to bag ducks in five consecutive Test innings. Bob Holland in 1985 and Mohammad Asif in 2006 also bagged five ducks in Tests. Agarkar, Holland and Danny Morrison (in 1993) are the only players with five ducks in a row in International cricket.

6/42 – His 6/42 against Australia in an ODI in 2004 in Melbourne are the best bowling figures by an Indian in losing cause. Ashish Nehra is the only other Indian with a 6-wicket haul in losing cause in this format. Nehra recorded figures of 6/59 against Sri Lanka in Colombo (RPS) in 2005.

21 – Ajit Agarkar holds the record for scoring the fastest fifty in ODI cricket for India. He completed his fifty off 21 balls against Zimbabwe in 2010 in Rajkot during his 67* run knock which came off 25 balls.

23 – Agarkar completed 50 wickets in ODI cricket in only 23 matches. He is the quickest to reach this milestone among Indian players. Only Ajantha Mendis (19 matches) needed fewer games than Agarkar to complete 50 ODI wickets.

58 – His 58 wickets in ODI cricket in 1998 are the 2nd most for an Indian in a calendar year in this format. Anil Kumble bagged 61 wickets in the ODI format in the year of 1996.

288 – Agarkar’s wickets in ODI format are the 3rd most by anyone for India. Only Anil Kumble (334) and Javagal Srinath (315) took more wickets than Agarkar in ODIs while playing for India.