The Offside

The answer to that question has to be a resounding "Yes." Ajit Agarkar has been one of the sharpest bowlers on the Indian circuit right from the time he burst onto the scene and became the fastest bowler to take 50 wickets in one-day cricket. Bowling with a smooth and easy action, Agarkar has shown that he is in excellent rhythm right now.

In the recently concluded series against Zimbabwe, Agarkar bowled his heart out, scalping eight crucial wickets at an average of less than 24. In the vital fourth one-dayer at Hyderabad, Agarkar's true value shone as he scalped 4/32 from 10 overs. Knocking the stuffing out of the top order, Agarkar set up an Indian victory.

The team to West Indies comprises the experienced Javagal Srinath and three relatively inexperienced lads in Tinu Yohannan, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan. Wickets in the West Indies are not nearly as pacy or hard as before. The weather conditions also mean that the ball will not swing as much as Nehra or Zaheer Khan would like.

With this in mind, it makes little sense to pick two left-arm seamers. Tried and tested, Agarkar has the pace and zip in him to trouble batsmen in a wide variety of conditions. The West Indies team especially would have struggled against him, with there being so many left-handers in the top order. Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds, Chris Gayle...they all bat left-handed and will find the left-arm seamers relatively easy to handle.

In every respect, then, it has to be said that Agarkar should have been in the team for the West Indies.

The Onside

It is easy to get carried away when an Indian cricketer meets with moderate success against uninspiring opposition on friendly home pitches. But please, let us not confuse the apples of limited-overs cricket with the oranges of the Test realm. Ajit Agarkar is a useful one-day cricketer. But that is just about it. In the Test arena, the Mumbai man has very little to show for himself.

On the back of his success in the shorter version of the game, Agarkar has been given a long trial as a Test cricketer. In the 11 matches that he has played, Agarkar has struggled to make a significant impact on any single game. Getting his wickets at over 40 apiece, Agarkar could not scalp five wickets in an innings even once. A best bowling analysis of 3/43 tells you clearly that this man is no Test match-winner.

What is more, it is a world-famous joke that Agarkar is a massive liability with the bat in Tests. Apart from his remarkable run of ducks against Australia, where he could not tickle the scoreboard even once, the Mumbai "all-rounder" has fallen well short of expectations on other tours as well. Only 125 runs have flowed off Agarkar's bat, coming at a paltry average of 7.81.

Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Tinu Yohannan may be no Bradmans with the bat, but their futures in the longer version of the game look a lot more promising, and it is important that they are given the encouragement of bowling in the cradle of fast bowling - the West Indies. Agarkar thus has little to complain about; even his staunchest fan must agree that his Test selection was always in doubt. [ Archive ]