Should Agarkar be dropped from Indian ODI squad??

[vandemataram]

Now that we have Zaheer, Nehra (will be fit soon), Salvi & pathan , is there any need to persist with inconsistent Ajit???
Considering he's not much of a batter, and is often expensive in bowling, i think Ajit should now be dropped from ODI squad.

What do you guys think?

 

[Rik]

That would be unfair, he's bowling well at the moment (except for the last game) and your forgetting all the names you mentioned can't bat at all...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

That would be unfair, he's bowling well at the moment (except for the last game) and your forgetting all the names you mentioned can't bat at all...

I sure hope this won't continue to be a recurring thing, but once again- I agree with Rik!:O

 

[krkode]

To that I would say a resounding NO. Anytime.

Agarkar is an asset to the ODI side, IMO.

Although hardly economical, he gets wickets at unusual rates. Currently he has more than 1.5 wickets per match, which is quite an achievement. And wickets are quite important in the ODI game.

Then again, since this is the ODI game, we need allrounders, and Agarkar, although it'd be stretching it, is a rather handy "allrounder."

I remember his 95 against the Windies and his 50 off 21 balls and his 26 off 12 to win the match for India against SL when he hit 2-3 sixes off the last two overs...

He's a handy bat and the team needs players like him in the ODI version of the game. Plus, he's the most experienced of them all, considering Srinath doesn't come back (noooo!). Blooding youngsters is well and good, but to go in without experience is almost suicide, especially for a team like India.

Now tests are a completely different version of the game, and I personally think our test bowling attack should have Harbhajan, Khan, Kumble if it's on Subcontinent and Nehra if it's not, and the 4th bowler can be someone else...not necessarily Agarkar, although he's handy there too...

 

[Neil Pickup]

Now that we have Zaheer, Nehra (will be fit soon), Salvi & pathan , is there any need to persist with inconsistent Ajit???
Considering he's not much of a batter, and is often expensive in bowling, i think Ajit should now be dropped from ODI squad.

What do you guys think?

Well Salvi seems pretty good but I'd like to see how he goes longer-term and on other countries' pitches. He did well in the WI with India A, depends if he can keep it up.

Pathan is totally unproven at International level.

I'm with Rik, Liam and krkode on this.

 

[marc71178]

Now that we have Zaheer, Nehra (will be fit soon), Salvi & pathan , is there any need to persist with inconsistent Ajit???
Considering he's not much of a batter, and is often expensive in bowling, i think Ajit should now be dropped from ODI squad.

What do you guys think?

Well, obviously I'm fully behind the great man, but joking aside, that post you made doesn't really demand to me that AA be dropped.

I agree Zaheer is a good bowler, but Nehra seems to me to be living off one game in very helpful conditions (bear in mind that in the other 8 games in the World Cup, he took 9 wickets @ a shade under 30), and the other 2 are very unproven.

So to suggest jettisoning someone who picks up wickets, and is probably a useful number 8 or 9 bat is IMO a bit silly.

 

[masterblaster]

No way, should Agarkar be dropped.
He is talented and an asset to this team. His fielding is outstanding, he has a good arm, his bowling is sharp and aggressive and he is a strike bowler. As for Pathan, as people have said, he is unproven at this level. I think though Agarkar might suffer if Salvi comes really good.

As a Khan, Nehra, Salvi, Harbhajan attack seems most logical, and I dont think Ganguly will be ever game to call Agarkar a 5th bowler all rounder like Andrew Symonds or Ian Harvey

 

[warrioryohannan]

Each and every player in Indian team is talented, whether its Bangar or its Ajit, but that alone doesn't (or shouldn't) gaurantee them a place in the side.

I had always said that Ajit has been a usefull player at Oneday level only. However i do think that its time that Indian selectors should try some upcomming young allrounders instead of persisting with Ajit/Bangar.Lets face it, Agarkar is NOT AN ALLROUNDER, yeah he may have played good innings here and there, almost all of them had been on dead tracks and against poor attacks.He is (and has been) useful as no 8 or nine batsman only while playing on particular pitches.As far as bowling is concerned, i would say Khan and Nehra are way better than Ajit , and Salvi seems to be a very good pacer and i have a feeling that he might become a permanent member of Indian team.As such i don't see how Ajit will be able to retain his place in the side ? and Ajit simply cannot be utilized as a 5th bowler/allrounder like Aussies do with Harvey/Symonds, coz the latter know how to bat really!

India should adopt the Pak approach, Pak has dropped Azhar Mahmood and Afridi (2 allrounders) thereby giving chances to some new players and they seems to have found a new good allrounder in Hafeez.If India is not able to find a genuine allrounder then Ajit can always be recalled, though i think Bangar should just be limited to test cricket .

 

[Ringua]

Yeah i agree with Warrior, its time to try out some youngsters. If India can come up with a reaonably good allrounder that can bowl ten overs and is a reliable batsman at no seven or eight slot then that would be fantastic.
Otherwise... we will still have Ajit in the 15 man Squad, who would probably be in and out of playing 11 for a couple of years after which he will just fade away!

 

[Ringua]

That would be unfair, he's bowling well at the moment (except for the last game) and your forgetting all the names you mentioned can't bat at all...

Not considering Irfan (for he hasn't even played a single match) the others doesn't really need to be much of a batsman to play for India.Right now India plays with seven specialists batsman and 4 specialists bowlers, i don't think there is any need to weaken the bowling attack further by having a bowler who can bat a bit at the expense of a better bowler who cannot bat at all.For me the Indian bowling attack should be like Khan,nehra, Salvi & Harb!

Ideally India should now go for six specialist batsmen, 4 genuine bowlers and a good allrounder. I wonder when India will come up with a reliable allrounder?

 

[luckyeddie]

snip!!!


Ideally India should now go for six specialist batsmen, 4 genuine bowlers and a good allrounder. I wonder when India will come up with a reliable allrounder?

Well, there's this guy who has a century at Lord's, the fastest to take 50 ODI wickets too.

His name was, um, er, .....

Best of the rest, I reckon.

 

[Rik]

Well India have tried Bangar and Yadav as the all-rounder and guess who's still there at the end...yup Ajit...sheesh maybe he's not actually that bad :O :O :O

 

[V Reddy]

Well India have tried Bangar and Yadav as the all-rounder and guess who's still there at the end...yup Ajit...sheesh maybe he's not actually that bad :O :O :O

You and Marc really love him afterall . Yeah he shouldn't be dropped. He is batting more maturely as a batsman and is having good control over his bowling now a days. Even though he was expensive yesterday , he really troubled Gibbs. He beat his beat several times and that too on a flat wicket.

 

[marc71178]

What I cannot fathom is how people have this assertion that Nehra is a better bowler than AA?

Look at their careers, and try to work out who's the more proven performer?

Nehra - 39 games, 45 wickets @ 32.17, an eco of 4.5 and S/R of 42.8
AA - 114 games, 174 wickets @ 28.07, an eco of 5.09 and S/R of 33.0

If a side is only going for 4 specialist bowlers, then these bowlers need to be able to take wickets!

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Well India have tried Bangar and Yadav as the all-rounder and guess who's still there at the end...yup Ajit...sheesh maybe he's not actually that bad :O :O :O

Bangar was actually dropped when he wasn't doing too badly in ODI cricket.

Yadav didn't get that much of an opportunity.

 

[luckyeddie]

You and Marc really love him afterall . Yeah he shouldn't be dropped. He is batting more maturely as a batsman and is having good control over his bowling now a days. Even though he was expensive yesterday , he really troubled Gibbs. He beat his beat several times and that too on a flat wicket.

We all love him, I reckon - he's a 'surprise package', the most wonderfully inconsistent performer.

 

[masterblaster]

Ajit has and always will be a good player for India. He is a hard working cricketer too, but:

"His mental approach and self critical attitude always lets him down"

He really has no confidence oozing from himself, and doesnt re assure himself that he is a fine player.

His career was going great until the 1999 world cup

50+ wickets, strike rate of 28, average of 23, econ: 5.1
he was a pure strike bowler,

but injuries, those 7 ducks on the trot, lack of self belief and confidence reduced him to the AA we know today, rather than the AA we could've known

 

[Ringua]

What I cannot fathom is how people have this assertion that Nehra is a better bowler than AA?

Look at their careers, and try to work out who's the more proven performer?

Nehra - 39 games, 45 wickets @ 32.17, an eco of 4.5 and S/R of 42.8
AA - 114 games, 174 wickets @ 28.07, an eco of 5.09 and S/R of 33.0

If a side is only going for 4 specialist bowlers, then these bowlers need to be able to take wickets!

Think about this, Nehra played almost all the matches in the world cup, Ajit wasn't even required to turn his arm over in a single match!!!

Nehra is a better bowler than Ajit, stats doesn't always tell the true pic.

 

[Ringua]

Well India have tried Bangar and Yadav as the all-rounder and guess who's still there at the end...yup Ajit...sheesh maybe he's not actually that bad :O :O :O

To be fair, Yadav was just given a single match, so he can hardly be labelled as a failure.

I read a statement by a selector claiming that there are many good young allrounders comming up, if its true then some should be given a chance.I beleive if India finds an allrounder as good as Prabharkar or Shastri then it would be wonderful for the team!

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Nehra is a better bowler than Ajit, stats doesn't always tell the true pic.

I would say that Nehra is a better allround bowler than Ajit but Ajit (IMO) is a better pure strike bowler than Nehra.