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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently appointed Ajit Agarkar as Team India’s new chief selector on Tuesday (July 4). Agarkar, best known for his bowling, was also a complete all-rounder as he contributed significantly with the bat when required. Interestingly, the pace-bowling specialist is one of only a handful Indian batters to have scored a century at iconic Lord’s. Agarkar is also the fastest Indian batsman to reach a half-century in One-Day-International cricket. India’s current ODI setup has the finest white-ball players, yet Agarkar’s 23-year-old record for the fastest fifty in 50-over format remains unbroken.
Agarkar is known to be one of the best players from the Mumbai cricket circuit who represented India. He was a member of the MS Dhoni-led team that won the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007. The Mumbai-born cricketer made his first-class debut in 1996-97 and went on to play 110 games.
In a span of just 17 years, Agarkar took 299 wickets and scored over 3000 runs. He played 26 Tests, 191 ODIs, and 4 T20Is for India, taking 58, 288, and 3 wickets, respectively. His best effort came in a memorable win for India in 2003-04, when he took 8 for 160 in Adelaide, his lone five-wicket haul in the longest format of the game.
Agarkar scored 571 runs in Tests, 1269 runs in ODIs, and 15 runs in T20s. He still maintains the record for the fastest half-century by an Indian batter in an ODI, which he scored against Zimbabwe in 2000 with a 21-ball fifty.
Watch below video of fastest ODI fifty by an Indian
For nearly a decade, he also held the record for being the fastest to take 50 ODI wickets, achieving such a great milestone in just 23 matches. The remarkable India vs Zimbabwe series: Agarkar attained a big milestone against Zimbabwe in 2000 when they toured India for two Tests and five One-Day Internationals. India won the Test series 1-0 and the ODI series 2-1 with one match remaining.
The series was won 4-1 by the Rahul Dravid-led side. However, it appeared at one point that India would not be able to win.When asked to bat first, India was reeling at 114/5 at one point but the Indian team went on to register a massive total of 301/6 all because of the remarkable half-centuries by Hemang Badani (77), Reetinder Sodhi (53*), and Agarkar (67*) which helped India overpower Zimbabwe.
It was Agarkar who outshone everyone as he completed his half-century in just 21 balls. He smashed 4 sixes and 7 boundaries enroute to his score of 67. The right-handed batsman batted with an extraordinary strike rate of 268.00.He also sparkled with the ball and hit a three-pointer in the victory. Zimbabwe was bowled out for 262 and lost by 39 runs as a result of his three wickets.
Agarkar was named Player of the Match, while Sourav Ganguly was named Player of the Series after scoring 264 runs and taking 5 wickets. The 45-year old has some of the most unique records to his name and he still remains the third highest ODI wicket taker.
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