India's Ajit Agarkar - record holder for consecutive 'golden ducks'

By A. C. de Silva

CRICKET: The game of cricket has many interesting stories attached to it and recalling them makes interesting reading to the many followers of the game. India and Australia are on the verge of going in for a Test series and some of the stories are worthwhile recalling.

India has won the World Cup and the country has produced many cricketers who have been the talking point for many years with their wonderful performances. At the same time India have also got some cricketers, who have at times, made their presence felt unfortunately in a manner that has not been so pleasing to the naked eye.

One of the Indian cricketers who did not have a pleasant time at a certain period of his career is Ajit Agarkar who went on to hold some records for not performing to the best of his ability.

Ajit Agarkar has been the unfortunate source of much mirth at Australian cricket grounds, though of course, the matches this time are on the Indian grounds.

In India's visit to Australia in December 1999, world records came in many ways Agarkar was India's leading wicket-taker with eleven scalps including Steve Waugh on four occasions and topped the bowling averages at 31.9. Nothing to start a forest fire down under, admittedly, but it was his batting that toppled world records.

Of the six times that he batted in the Test series against Australia, Channel 9 was forced to display the dreaded "smoking duck" carricature five times.

Chain of ducks

Striding out at No. 8 in the first innings of the first Test in Adelaide, he made 19, pretty much par for the course for a bowler with batting pretensions in domestic cricket. Coming in at 93 for six in the second innings he was caught off Damien Fleming and departed for a golden duck. Not much of a present with Christmas only ten days away, but never mind. In the second Test in Melbourne, the unusual began to become routing of Agit departed first ball in each innings, but he's a popular fellow in the Indian dressing room and the soubriquet of Bombay Duck was probably the worst he had to endure. It was in the third Test that it started to get monotonous. Demoted to No. 9, he trudged out to face Bret Lee and returned to the pavilion one ball later, having set an all-time Test record of four consecutive first ball ducks. With power to add.

When he strode to the crease in the second innings, the score was 234 and Glenn McGrath was bowling. Triumphantly, he survived his first ball only to touch the second to Alan Gailchrist behind the stumps.

The Indian fast bowler's batting starts for the series contains more rings that Jodie Packer's jewellery box: 19, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0. Agarkar's first four 'ducks' were first ball jobs, making him the only player in Test cricket's 132-year history to register such an unwanted milestone.

Glenn McGrath could have made it five at the SCG, but also the ball sailed harmlessly outside off-stump.

McGrath nailed him next ball instead.

For his five 'ducks', Agarkar spent a total of seven minutes at the crease and faced six balls.

Agarkar was very disappointed. "It can't be any worse than five ducks. It's disappointing, but I have to get on with it.

Dismal tour

"Four first balls ducks and the fifth one was the second ball ....nothing really went wrong, it's just that I knocked everything I played. "But there's a lot of one-day games to try to make a few runs." Agarkar has dismal tour with the bat ensures his name is mentioned in the same breath as some of the great "bunnies" of world cricket.

His five consecutive ducks gives him the joining world record with illustrious former Australian leg-spinner of the 'gos, Bob 'Dutchy' Holland. He has also evoked memories of the great duck "Shoot-out" between Glenn McGrath and England's Allan Mullally in 1999 Ahses series, with the two No 11s claiming 10 between them.

In fairness, it must be pointed out that Agarkar is primarily a bowler and a good one at that.

He dismissed Australian captain Steve Waugh three times in the Tests and was India's leading wicket-taker with 11. He also proved to be India's fastest bowler with his slight 58kg frame propelling the ball at 140km/h.

He also has the record for reaching 50 wickets in one-day games quicker than any other bowler in history (23 games). But - amazing as it may seem - Agarkar revealed he would have probably ended up a batsman of not for the intervention of his captain Sachin Tendulkar.

Not long after making a triple century for Tendulkar's old school of Shereashram, Agarkar caught the little master's eye in local club game with his part-time medium-pacers.

"Sachin saw me bowl a but in club games and that's where he asked me to concentrate on my bowling, Agarkar said. "I was batting four, five and six, but then.. I started concentrating on my bowling."

Agarkar still possesses skill as a batsman.