I Have Followed The Tradition Of Mumbai Cricket - Agarkar Retires

[aragorn]

[size=5][i]ESPNcricinfo spoke to former India and Mumbai fast bowler [b]Ajit Agarkar[/b] soon after he [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/679933.html"]announced his retirement [/url]from all forms of cricket[/i][/size]
[size=5][img]http://www.espncricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/153900/153914.2.jpg[/img][/size]
[size=5]Ajit Agarkar said he felt it was time to go after Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy in 2012-13 [/size][size=5] © ESPNcricinfo Ltd [/size] [size=5]Enlarge[/size]


[size=5]Related Links[/size]
[size=5]News : [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/679933.html"]Agarkar retires from all cricket[/url][/size]
[color=#666666]
[size=5]Players/Officials: [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/26184.html"]Ajit Agarkar[/url][/size][/color] [color=#666666]
[size=5]Teams: [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/team/6.html"]India[/url][/size][/color]
[size=5][b]How do you feel after announcing the decision?[/b]
Relieved, now that I have made the decision. It was a tough decision; it wasn't easy to let go of something that you have been passionately doing all these years.[/size]
[size=5][b]Why retire now?[/b]
Why not? I've thought about it. It's not like I decided about it yesterday. You have to be at peak of your fitness and motivated enough to last a full season.[/size]
[size=5][b]But the Mumbai selectors were set to name you as captain for yet another season …[/b]
It's ok. I should be as motivated as others. It was the right time for me. One more season was not going to change much. It could only have meant I would have been around for one more season and one of the youngsters would have been benched for Mumbai. I don't have a chance to play for India, so I thought it was the right time. Moreover, it's not a young (Mumbai) team anymore. It's a well-balanced unit and I feel it was time to let the younger lot carry the mantle.[/size]
[size=5][b]Are you moving away from the trend set by players who continue playing, or move to other states as professionals towards the latter stages of their careers?[/b]
I have been primarily playing for last six years only to groom youngsters. How many fast bowlers would have continued to play for six years after playing their last international game? The only purpose to continue playing once I realised I was not going to play for India again was to pass on my experience to youngsters. That is the tradition of Mumbai cricket and I have followed it.[/size]
[size=5][b]Was there a particular moment that made you realise it was time to go?[/b]
When we won the final last year. It was a long, hard season. I was mentally and physically drained and thought I should hang up my boots. Then I thought I would give myself the off-season before taking the call. I was still training. I wanted to check if I was ready for yet another hard season. When you come closer to the season, you start getting excited about it. But I knew it was getting harder for me to be right up there. I still gave it a try but when I realised the body wasn't responding - physically and emotionally - there was no point continuing with it.[/size]
[size=5][b]Weren't you tempted to reach 300 first-class wickets and play with Sachin Tendulkar one last time?[/b]
What will that do? When I started last year's final, I knew I was on 295. That was the first time I actually knew about my stats. I still stopped bowling after taking three wickets in the first six overs. If those landmarks were to happen, they would have happened last season. Had it been a landmark in international cricket, maybe I would have thought about it. But Dhawal (Kulkarni) needs a five-for more than me now.[/size]
[size=5][b]The last three-four seasons had been stop-start for you. Has there been too much of wear and tear on the body to continue playing?[/b]
I am in my thirties. It's hard even for a young bowler who is at his peak. The conditions, the travelling, it all takes a lot out of you. It's a reality that every professional cricketer has to deal with it. When you have to bowl 30 to 40 overs, travel for a day and then take the field again in a couple of days and keep on doing it every week, it's tough.[/size]
[size=5][b]To continue playing IPL would obviously have been tempting for you?[/b]
Not at all. IPL is a fantastic tournament, no doubt. Even for a player like me, it presents an opportunity to play with and against quality international cricketers. Also, financially it's very rewarding. However, since I haven't played international cricket for the last five years, I would anyway be an uncapped cricketer. Still, there was no consideration to give it a go only for financial reasons. If I had to continue playing, I would have continued playing all forms of the same.[/size]
[size=5][b]How would you sum up the whole journey?[/b]
Fantastic. I have absolutely no complaints. To have collected almost 350 international wickets was an absolute privilege. So was scoring a Test century. I was fortunate to have my name in the list of honours at two of the most special venues in international cricket, Lord's and Adelaide Oval. Won seven Ranji titles with Mumbai. You always want more but you don't get it. Very happy. I could actually finish after winning a Ranji title. That is how it had started, so very happy that it culminated in the same way.[/size]
[size=5][b]What next now?[/b]
I don't know. It's taken a while for the decision to be made. But now that I have done it, I want to enjoy it as much as I can. Obviously it would be good if I can stay connected with the game in some form. But for now, I just need to enjoy myself and spend a lot of quality time with my family and friends.[/size]

[aragorn]

[b] [size=4]Agarkar retires from all cricket[/size][/b]

[size=4]ESPNcricinfo staff[/size]
[size=4]October 16, 2013[/size]
[size=4][url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/679933.html?comments=all#usrcomment"]Comments: 28[/url] | [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/679933.html#fcomments"][color=#035BAC]Login via[/color][/url] [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/679933.html#fcomments"][img]http://i.imgci.com/espncricinfo/connect_fb_icon.png[/img][/url] | Text size: [color=#AAAAAA]A[/color] | A[/size]
[size=4][img]http://www.espncricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/153900/153913.2.jpg[/img][/size]
[size=4]Ajit Agarkar captained Mumbai to what was their 40th Ranji Trophy title last season [/size][size=4] © ESPNcricinfo Ltd [/size] [size=4]Enlarge[/size]


[size=4]Related Links[/size]
[size=4]Features : [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/679987.html"]'I have followed the tradition of Mumbai cricket'[/url][/size]
[color=#666666]
[size=4]Players/Officials: [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/26184.html"]Ajit Agarkar[/url][/size][/color] [color=#666666]
[size=4]Teams: [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/team/6.html"]India[/url][/size][/color]
[size=4][url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/26184.html"]Ajit Agarkar[/url], the former India seamer, has announced his retirement from all competitive cricket. Agarkar had led Mumbai, for whom he played all his Ranji Trophy cricket, to the [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/indian-domestic-2012/engine/current/match/574136.html"]domestic first-class title[/url] in the 2012-13 season. He played 110 first-class games in all, taking 299 wickets at 30.69, as well as 270 List A games and 62 T20s in a career that began in 1996-97.[/size]
[size=4]Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Agarkar said, given how balanced the Mumbai team is at the moment, he decided it was the right time to go. "It was the right time for me. One more season was not going to change much. It could only have meant I would have been around for one more season and one of the youngsters would have been benched for Mumbai.[/size]
[size=4]"I don't have a chance to play for India [again], so I thought it was the right time. Moreover, it's not a young [Mumbai] team anymore. It's a well-balanced unit and I feel it was time to let the younger lot carry the mantle."[/size]
[size=4]Agarkar's decision caught everyone at the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), including the selection panel, by surprise. Sudhir Naik, Mumbai's chairman of selectors, said that he and his panel were set to appoint Agarkar as the captain for the forthcoming domestic season. "It is a surprise to us. Today we had a selection committee meeting where practically we had decided to appoint him as the captain," Naik said. "But before the meeting commenced, we were told he had informed the MCA that he was retiring." Zaheer Khan was later named the captain.[/size]
[size=4]In the last few years Agarkar failed to play consistently as recurring injuries force him to sit out. However when he was fit, Agarkar played.[/size]
[size=4]"He was a typical Mumbai player. He could bring out his best and win the critical sessions," [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/26238.html"]Pravin Amre[/url], the former Mumbai coach, said. According to Amre, one of Agarkar's finest hours was [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/indiandomestic2009/engine/current/match/412791.html"]in Mysore in 2009[/url], when his aggressive burst of fast bowling denied Karnataka the Ranji Trophy. It was one of the most thrilling first-class matches in India's domestic cricket, when Karnataka nearly chased down 338. Manish Pandey had completed an aggressive and fluent century. Karnataka were marching quickly towards the title, backed by a vociferous home crowd. But a charged up Agarkar, angered by a verbal exchange with an opposition player, bowled with fierce intensity to clinch a five-for and ###### control back for Mumbai.[/size]
[size=4]"His five-for in the second innings was memorable. It was such a tight game but he stood strong to ###### that final wicket," Amre said. "A close appeal was not given but that really fired him up, and the rest of the team which was behind him.[/size]
[size=4]"He always valued the Mumbai cap. His intensity was always high against a tough opponent."[/size]
[size=4]In all, Agarkar was part of eight Ranji Trophy winning sides in his 16-year career. Agarkar was named Mumbai captain last year, following a small controversy. In November 2011, Agarkar had [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ranji-trophy-elite-2011/content/story/542943.html"]left the team[/url] in Cuttack as he was disappointed at not being picked in the XI for a match against Orissa. He consequently withdrew from the squad for the entire 2011-12 Ranji season, before reconciling with the Mumbai association and [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/vijay-hazare-trophy-2011/content/story/553321.html"]taking charge[/url] for the domestic one-day competition, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in February 2012. Prior to the start of the following season, he was named first-class captain as well.[/size]
[size=4]Agarkar's international career ran from 1998 to 2007, during which he featured in 26 Tests, 191 ODIs and four Twenty20 internationals. He was off to a flying start in one-day internationals, breaking the then record for the [url="http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283529.html"]fastest to 50 wickets[/url]. He helped India complete a [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/64060.html"]historic win[/url] - their first Test match victory in Australia in 23 years - in Adelaide in 2003, with a second-innings six-wicket haul. Despite those infamous five Test ducks in a row against Australia in 1999-2000, Agarkar was also handy with the bat - he has [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/63997.html"]a century at Lord's[/url] to his name, which he scored during India's 2002 tour of England. He scored a fifty off 21 balls in an ODI against Zimbabwe in [url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64684.html"]Rajkot[/url] in 2000, which remains the fastest one-day fifty by an Indian.[/size]
[size=4]Speaking about Agarkar's retirement, BCCI president N Srinivasan said in a release: "Ajit Agarkar served India with distinction for nearly a decade. On behalf of the BCCI, I congratulate him on a fine career, and wish him all the best for the future."[/size]