'I Hope This Buries The Past'

Ajit Agarkar is hoping his brilliant century in India'ssecond innings of the first Test against England at Lord's yesterday is the beginning of anew and better phase in his cricketing career.

Agarkar, who hit a confident unbeaten 109 for his maidenTest hundred in India's 170-run loss, said the innings will help in stoppingpeople from discussing his unharnessed batting talent in the past.

"I hope it is the start of something better and Iam able to contribute in similar fashion more regularly," Agarkar said inan interview today.

"I also hope this ends all talks of thepast," he said referring to his inglorious world record sequence ofno-scores against Australia.

Agarkar failed to score in five consecutive inningsagainst Australia in the 2000-01 series Down Under, getting out off the firstball on four of those occasions. When Australia came on a return tour to Indialast year, he added two more noughts.

That earned him the dubious title of 'Bombay Duck' andseverely dented his claims for being an all-rounder.

But his knock yesterday was good enough to put an endto all doubts whether he can bat as he almost doubled his career aggregate Testruns of 125 before this match.

What was remarkable about Agarkar's innings was the ease and confidence withwhich he batted. An analysis of his innings by Wisden later showed that as muchas 77 per cent of his shots went exactly where they were intended to be hit.

That was the highest percentage of sure play by anybatsman in this Test including the three centurions for England - NasserHussain, Michael Vaughan and John Crawley - andRahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman.

Indeed, so supremely confident was Agarkar of himselfthat he had also started entertaining hopes of batting through the day as longas Laxman was with him at the crease.

"Probably, if Laxman had stayed put and we hadgone to lunch without losing any further wicket, we could have drawn thegame," Agarkar said.

It is a tall assertion by any means but looking at theway in which he batted yesterday, it is very difficult not to believe the wiryMumbai all-rounder.

Agarkar and Laxman put on 126 runs for the seventhwicket after India had collapsed to 170 for six while chasing a mammoth total of567. But Laxman, who made a sparkling 74, was dismissed when he drove uppishlyto be caught at point.

Rueing that dismissal, Agarkar said had Laxman been around anything was possible. "You could see their bowlerswere tired and they had difficulty in getting out even the tailenders of ourteam," he said.

And to stress the point that his teammates also believed in his ability tobat, Agarkar said at no stage during the partnership did Laxman try to shieldhim from the bowlers.

"When you have to last out the 120 overs of theinnings, these things are farthest from your mind," Agarkar said.

"Initally I was only content with giving him thestrike and hanging around which might have given the impression he was shieldingme.

"But there was no conscious effort from Laxman orme to see that he takes the most of the strike. We never spoke about it nordiscussed it during the innings." Agarkar also gave full credit to AshishNehra who hung in long enough to enable him to reach his century. When Nehracame in to bat, Agarkar was batting on 67 and a century hardly looked possible.

Agarkar said he never let negative thoughts crosshis mind. "I knew he could bat a bit. I remember a match between Bombay andDelhi where Nehra batted the whole day. He was only out in the final over of theday. Otherwise Delhi would have drawn that game."

Agarkar's knock has comein for fulsome praise from all circles for his technique and application. Sunil Gavaskar noted in his column that the difference in Agarkar'sinnings yesterday was that he never played across the line and there were noflourishes over the top of mid-wicket which has caused his downfall on more thanone occassion.

"Yes, I was conscious not to hit in the air. I was more content playingstraight and not hitting across the line," Agarkar said.

Obviously delighted to get his maiden Test hundred,Agarkar did not attach too much significance to the fact that it had come atLord's.

"A Test hundred is a Test hundred and that aloneis special enough. It is a special feeling and it can only be bettered ifprobably I do it in front of my home crowd in Bombay," he said.

"It is not easy to get even a half century in Testcricket and going past hundred is very special," said Agarkar whoseprevious best score in Test cricket was 41 against South Africa in Mumbai twoyears ago.

"That's why I hope it turns out to be the start ofa new and better phase," he said.

Agarkar said if he was able to contribute similarly ina regular fashion it would give a tremendous boost the top order batsmen too.

"It is great for the team and good for the batsmenat the top if the lower half starts contributing regularly," he said.

While admitting that he had bowled badly in the firstinnings, Agarkar brushed aside suggestions that his below-par bowlingperformance had made him more determined to do well with the bat.

"Playing Test cricket is motivation enough and youdon't need any extra reason to perform well at this level. In any case you aretrying to do your best all the time," he said.

PTI