[grvanand]

Very true, totally agree with you Srishiva. Was watching an interview of Rohit Sharma in Star Cricket, his whole thinking about success, acheivements and what use he puts them through were all so flawed. He lacks maturity big time, drives a cool BMW 5 series though. I am a big fan of this guy's cricketing talent, he has all the potential to become the next big thing in international cricket, his game is a delight but not the attitude. Success so easily goes through their head. If not for bad attitude, Yuvraj Singh would have easily been the next Sachin Tendulkar of the world but it looks like instead of cricket, its the glamour world that they are more targeting now.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

I agree with Yuvraj's attitude being a problem. Last year, after a match when the post match presentation was going on in the field, he did a really rash thing. There were some people who were clicking pictures with their cell phones of the cricketers on the field. Yuvraj just walks up to one guy snatches his phone, pocket's it and walks away. After a lot of protest by the organizers and others (not naming them - but cricketers and high level officials) regarding this behavior to the team manager, the phone was returned to the person. Not nice. And its not as if that person was in Yuvraj's face clicking snaps, he was at an un-obstructive distance away. I lost all respect for him that day.
But i must say, we all had a nice laugh at that poor sod's expense... specially the look of bewilderment on his face! He had no idea what to do and couldn't follow Yuvraj due to the security cordon!!!

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by grvanand

Sad to see Mc Cullum cry after he did all that he could. Happy for RCB though but if not for Ross Taylor, Bangalore wouldn't have won. It was clearly a one man show and was totally Ross Taylor's day, exactly like how Mc Cullum won the first match single handedly during IPL 1. I thought Agarkar bowled well but was plain unlucky as always. Rahul Dravid seems to have become Mendis's bunny by getting out yet again to the same bowler albeit different format.

One can't be unlucky throughout the career. Agarkar is one of those eternal promising cricketer.

[Eddy]

He was good only for the first year or so. After that, its plain lack of control over his bowling. No luck factor, nothing...

[grvanand]

What people don't realize is Agarkar even today is probably the third or fourth highest wicket taker for India in ODIs. In yesterday's match too, a catch was dropped off his bowling, run out chance missed which went for four and so on. Thats the reason I said he was unlucky, problem with him though has been with respect to consistancy. On his day, he can hit a quickfire 50 (he still holds Indian fastest 50 record), tremendous fielder in the deep and take crucial wickets of the top order, but of late his days have become rare.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by grvanand

What people don't realize is Agarkar even today is probably the third or fourth highest wicket taker for India in ODIs. In yesterday's match too, a catch was dropped off his bowling, run out chance missed which went for four and so on. Thats the reason I said he was unlucky, problem with him though has been with respect to consistancy. On his day, he can hit a quickfire 50 (he still holds Indian fastest 50 record), tremendous fielder in the deep and take crucial wickets of the top order, but of late his days have become rare.

Come on! Don't just look at statistics as it is. Look at them keeping the full context in mind.
Just because a catch was dropped off his bowling, doesn't make him unlucky. Dropping catches is part of the game, happens all the time to all bowlers.

IMO, Agarkar is the most underachieving cricketer India has ever produced. His performance is highly inconsistent, and he never delivers when it matters.
Being one of the leading wicket takers doesn't mean much. India plays like 40 ODIs every year which is far more than other teams and for someone who has played for 10+ years, his record is nothing great.
Highlights of his career:
Fastest 50 wickets in ODIs (doesn't mean much IMO, should be looked at with match results/opponents in mind)
Test century in Lords (losing cause)
Fastest 50 by Indian (against Zimbabwe)
6 wickets in Adelaide test against Aus (This is probably the only performance worth remembering)

The way his career has been, he looks always looked promising (either by picking loads of wickets against or scoring runs against weak opposition), but when it came to a crucial match, you can't rely on him. Anybody remember 99'WC match against SA? We lost that because of lose bowling by Agarkar, the same story, bowling full tosses to set batsmen. He is still the same.

[mclaren1885]

Silent Engine, have you seen Agarkar bowl at his prime (when he debuted naturally)? He not only had pace, but at that time there was no one else around who could swing the ball both ways in world cricket like he could. Pity same thing is happening with Irfan Pathan now. And trust me, bagging 50 wickets quicker than any other cricketer is quite an achievement by itself. Its a pity that his talent wasn't harnessed well by BCCI during that time.

Anybody remember 99'WC match against SA? We lost that because of lose bowling by Agarkar, the same story, bowling full tosses to set batsmen. He is still the same.

Shane Warne, Glen McGrath are probably the two best bowlers this decade has seen. I can give you countless examples when they were thrashed by opposition too. In sports, everyone has a good and bad day. Only thing is we remember Chetan Sharma for having lost India the match on the last ball but not applaud Miandad for that awesome strike. Such is our mentality. Sadly winning isn't everything (isn't that what even the Olympics interpret?). But only a true fan of any sport will understand that.

As for the most underachieving cricketer tag, I would say Yuvraj bags that hands down. With the kind of talent he has, he is still struggling to find a permanent spot in the tests. Just hope and pray Rohit Sharma doesn't go his way.

[Surprise]

Gilli made me sit for the entire match with his shots in the first over. I felt its going to be gilli's day and wanna watch him thrashing the bowlers. Lucky man I was as he did extremely well today. What an innings from Symonds- Outstanding.

Just 29 runs from 24 deliveries for DC

Edit: 18th over turning in favor of DD. 2 wickets with just 3 runs. Reqd 22 runs in 2 overs (6 wickets down with Symonds back into pavillon)

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Silent Engine, have you seen Agarkar bowl at his prime (when he debuted naturally)?

Yes, I have seen him. First few years were only time when he was good, and looked promising. I am just saying that he hasn't quite delivered to the extent one would have expected.

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Shane Warne, Glen McGrath are probably the two best bowlers this decade has seen. I can give you countless examples when they were thrashed by opposition too.

Everyone has bad days in sport. Problem comes when bad days far outnumber the good days like in Agarkar's case.
Anyway, my point is that you cannot call Agarkar unlucky like grvanand posted here. If we were to talk about luck, he is lucky that he got a chance to play for so long in international arena. There are a lot of better domestic players who never got a chance to play international cricket.

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Such is our mentality. Sadly winning isn't everything (isn't that what even the Olympics interpret?). But only a true fan of any sport will understand that.

No disagreement there

Meanwhile DD are mounting a serious comeback in their match against DC!
DC need 20 from 11 with 4 wkts in hand

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

I am just saying that he hasn't quite delivered to the extent one would have expected.

Problem comes when bad days far outnumber the good days like in Agarkar's case.

Like I said BCCI didn't handle him well enough and we have the worst selection policy for players. Sometimes there is no logic to why a player was dropped or selected.

[karthik247]

What a sad collapse by DC

Rajat pretty much won it for DD in 2overs!!

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Like I said BCCI didn't handle him well enough and we have the worst selection policy for players. Sometimes there is no logic to why a player was dropped or selected.

There is a saying, India is doing well in cricket despite the BCCI not because of it!

DC just showed how to lose a match in 3 overs
I was hoping for a DC win. Delhi now have 16 points and the first team to make it to semis (not that anybody had a doubt about that )

[CaliAtenza]

today is RCB Vs CSK...does bangalore have a chance??? please someone say yes!

[1-Testosterone]

More than a chance. CSK relies heavily on Hayden, their run machine in this IPL. I think with Taylor back in form, RCB is doing good. Also, the bowling attack of RCB is better than CSK. Getting Hayden out first and cheaply is must else they have a slim chance.

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

Agarkar is the most underachieving cricketer India has ever produced. His performance is highly inconsistent, and he never delivers when it matters.

On a lighter note, He was very consistent when India toured Australia(2000 ??)
He was so consistent, he got 5 successive ducks(0) against Australia in test matches ;-)