Hope this century ends all talk
of the past: Agarkar

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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