'It's the press which calls me an all-rounder'

Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar is as much a household name in this cricket-crazy country as his illustrious Mumbai and India colleague Sachin Tendulkar. The only difference is that despite being very talented with bat and ball, and in spite of getting enough opportunities to prove his worth, he hasn't performed as consistently as a player of his ability and stature is expected to.

As a result, he never had a regular place in the Indian team, whether in Tests or One-Day Internationals.

In an exclusive interview with Haresh Pandya, conducted at Hotel Imperial Palace in Rajkot, Agarkar talks at length about his international career and admits he hasn't lived up to his great potential.

You were a key member of the Indian team that won the innugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, but there is no place for you even in India's one-day squad now. How do you feel about it?

Of course, you want to play for your country every time. But it isn't possible. After all, only 15 guys can get picked in a team. And among them the selectors or the team management pick those eleven players who they believe are in good form at that particular point of time or best for the side in the given situation.

But I'm not unduly worried. There are plenty of first-class matches coming up in the domestic season. I'll try my best to perform well in them and stake my claim again. It [to be in and out the team] hasn't changed over the years. I play cricket because I enjoy playing it. I've to perform well for Mumbai again and wait for the opportunities to make a comeback into the Indian team. That's how it has always been. Nothing has really changed. You want to play for India, but that's the way it goes.

It's not bad. I think to survive for 10 years in the highly competitive international cricket isn't a bad achievement. So I'm quite happy. Of course, there are certain things you would like to do a bit better. But that's the way it is. All that is past and you always look forward.

I really can't specify. If there had been just one thing, I would have told you. But there are many things. Probably I would have done them differently early in my career. But as you get a bit more experienced, you obviously tend to do it a bit differently. So I can't actually put my finger on just one thing and say this is what I would like to do differently. I'm sure you know there're certain things you may have done early in your career which, when you realise later on as you gain in experience, you feel you would probably have done differently. But that's the way it is.

Only 58 wickets in 26 Tests do not portray your true picture as a bowler. Obviously, you must not be happy about it...

Yes, I'm not. Obviously, you want to do well in both forms of the game as a cricketer. I've had some good performances in Tests. But, maybe, not enough consistency, to be honest. As you rightly say, 58 wickets in 26 Tests don't show the right figures. But then there've been times when I've practically not bowled at all in Tests in India, where you've got two world-class spinners in Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who basically finish off the game. But, yes, still you would like to do a bit better.

Well, I've taken about 30 wickets against Australia in Tests. And everybody knows how Australians play. I know I could have done a bit better in Test cricket. However, there're certain things you want to do differently. But that's the way it is. You don't dwell too much on the past. You look forward and try and improve the next time when you get an opportunity.

It's the press which calls me an all-rounder. So you'll need to be sure! I know I'm good with the willow and I could do much better as a batsman. I would certainly have liked to do more with the bat. But my primary role in the team is that of a bowler. I think people should have accepted this by now.

It's always the media which crucifies me when I don't do well with the bat. But the fact remains that my role in the team is to bowl. Of course, it has become so important nowadays for all the eleven players to contribute with the bat. So, yes, I would like to do a bit better with the bat. But, importantly, if I don't pick wickets, I won't be in the team.

Yes, I think so. I've played under four different captains. Each one of them had his own different style. I've had no complaints whatsoever against any of my captains. Most Indian captains I've played under have been very player-friendly. They always give you a free hand. So no complaints, really.

Yes, it's always nice. I started with Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad and went on to bowl with quite a few other partners. You get to learn one another's habits and strengths and weaknesses and bowl accordingly.

I don't know. I try and do the same against every other team I play. As I said, you want to do well in both forms of the game. And you want to do well against each team you play. I made my debut against Australia, the toughest team in the world, and that may be the reason! But my doing well against Australia, as you say, is nothing but a mere coincidence.

Australia has set the benchmark for most other teams over the last one decade or so now. It's always nice, it always gives you more satisfaction, when you perform against the best team in the world. Any other player will tell you the same. There're no different feelings. If you've some good performances against Australia, you always feel satisfied.

I was there on the 1999-2000 tour, too, when we're hammered in all the Tests. We didn't look like having a chance at all. For most of us to then go again to Australia and draw the first Test and win the second was a very great feeling. We could actually have won the series. It would have been a great feat. But Australia managed to square the series somewhow. Not many people gave us a chance when we landed in Australia. So I can't describe the feeling of beating Australia in a Test in Australia.

Well, I was the one who picked six wickets in that spell in Australia's second innings. So I was lucky. But it was Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman who put on that 303-run partnership which gave us a chance to come back in the game after Australia had scored over 500 runs in the first innings. Although I got six wickets in the second innings, our performance was a great example of what the team work is all about.

Everyone contributed -- Sachin Tendulkar got two important wickets in the second innings, Anil Kumble got Adam Gilchrist out. And then the batters went out and scored those 230 runs for victory, which isn't always easy scoring in the last innings of Test against an attack like Australia's.

I think it was a complete team effort. Otherwise, it isn't that easy to win a Test abroad against odds, versus an opposition like Australia.

A Test century is a Test century, and wherever you score it, it's always a very special feeling. Yes, it feels good to be among those few Indians who have scored a Test century at Lord's. But I would have been happier if my hundred had helped India win. But we lost the Test and that was very disappointing. And that's why I rate my performance in Adelaide a bit higher because it enabled India to win a Test against Australia.

You tend to remember those matches in which your team not only does well and but emerges victorious, too. Personal milestones and achievements might give you happiness. But if your team doesn't end up winning, it doesn't give you that satisfying feeling. You really can't be proud of your personal feats if they don't help your team.

I think you'll have to ask this question to the people who have had those expectations of me. But, yes, I try and do my best every time I go out there in the middle. When you're starting out in your career, the pressure of establishing yourself in the team is always there. And once you're established in the team, there're people who pull you down! So there is always a pressure to perform, whether you're a newcomer or an established player.

People in India are very passionate about cricket. And this isn't going to change. It was the same when I first played for India and it's probably more now. But once I enter the field, such things don't affect me. Maybe, as you rightly said, because I started my career by taking many wickets, people began expectating too much of me. The fact that I broke the record [the fastest to 50 wickets in ODIs] after so many years probably made people believe that I was capable of anything! Sometimes it's a bit unfair. You can't always pick so many wickets. It's just not possible. I can only keep trying.

I don't know. Let me reiterate that as a cricketer you want to do well in Tests as well as ODIs. And you wait for the opportunities. When you get them, you try and do your best. Some days it works for you, some days it doesn't. But when you come off the field, you shouldn't feel you haven't tried your best. I know I've given my 100 per cent every time I'm out there in the field, whether it's for Mumbai, for India or even for my Company's team. And that's not going to change till I play cricket.

Could you name some batsmen who may have truly tested you as a bowler and given you a torrid time?

There've been plenty of them actually. I think Adam Gilchrist is always a dangerous player. I'm sure all the bowlers in the world have said the same about him. Matthew Hayden has been simply phenomenal in the last few years. Arvinda de Silva and Inzamam-ul-Haq were tough players to bowl to. Ricky Ponting, too. I don't mean to say other guys are easy to bowl to. No. But you need to be at the top of your game when bowling to these batsmen, so that they don't dominate you.

Basically you need to get these particular batsmen out cheaply; otherwise they'll plunder plenty of runs off you.

Too many to remember. There've been many occasions when you bowl really well and yet you go wicketless. There are days when you don't bowl well and yet you pick a handful of wickets. There are also days when even if you bowl extremely well, the luck deserts you. I remember a spell I bowled in a Test in Zimbabwe when I was simply unlucky not to be rewarded. I think I really bowled a very good spell and was unlucky not to get a couple of decisions in my favour, a couple of catches went and I ended up getting just one wicket. Those are the times when you wished you had more luck and you could have easily picked up 4 or 5 wickets.

So that's the way it goes. As I said, some days you're lucky enough to pick wickets even when you don't bowl well and some days you just don't get any even after bowling at your best. But somehow it evens out at the end of your career.

Yes, I'm. It's obviously better than what it was when I started playing cricket. Today, there're some really good young fast bowlers around. They've done reasonably well. So it only helps to have some good bowlers. We recently won the Test series in England, which showed what a couple of young pace bowlers did. Zaheer Khan was brilliant. R P Singh and S Sreesanth bowled really well. So, having a number of young fast bowlers obviously augurs well for the future.

As I said earlier, each one of them had a different style. I've been extremely comfortable with each of my captains because they gave you a free hand. So no complaints, really. They've had different styles but they've always backed the players. It might sound a bit diplomatic, but I think that when a captain feels a player deserves to be in the team, he is always back in the side. At least I've had that experience.

He has done really well in whatever opportunities he has got at the moment. So we've just to wait and see. No more comment really till he actually becomes a Test captain. I think captaincy itself is a new role for him and he has also been learning a few things about it every new day. Unless you've some ability, you just don't go and lead your country. But Dhoni has proved what he is capable of. Of course, we won the Twenty20 World Cup under him. But even if we hadn't won it, you could still see his temperament. So he has done really well in his new role.