It was the 2011-12 season, and Mumbai were playing a Ranji Trophy knockout fixture against Odisha in Cuttack. The game suddenly became high-profile, with Zaheer Khan coming back from an injury lay-off and an Australia tour around the corner. Then national selector Surendra Bhave turned up to assess the fast bowler. This correspondent was part of a big media turnout that was there for Zaheer. Out of the blue, Ajit Agarkar became the lead story.
A day before the match, Agarkar left the Mumbai team after falling out with then head coach Sulakshan Kulkarni. No amount of persuasion from his team-mates worked. Agarkar stuck to his guns.
Cut to the 2018-19 season, and Agarkar was the chief selector of the Mumbai senior side. Shreyas Iyer had come back from an India A tour of New Zealand and on the heels of a long flight, he asked the Mumbai Cricket Association to allow him to skip the next Ranji Trophy game against Chattisgarh. Agarkar was insistent that Shreyas must play and the issue eventually led to the selectors resigning en masse. That was the start of the clash of two strong egos.
In 2024, after Shreyas didn’t turn up for Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy game against Baroda citing back issues, Agarkar, now the chief national selector, dropped him from the list of the centrally contracted cricketers. A message went to Agarkar that Shreyas was doing individual training under Abhishek Nayar. Actually, the middle-order batsman was just building his load at the nets and was developing back spasms after facing just 60 balls. At the moment it felt like the relationship between Agarkar and Shreyas had reached the point of no return.
On Saturday, at the BCCI’s Cricket Centre in Mumbai, after naming Shreyas as India’s new T20I captain, Agarkar told reporters: “We have seen what he (Shreyas) has done over the last few years, leading different franchises. He won (the IPL title) once, had a tougher season this year after a great start. He has seen everything that a captain possibly can.”
The chief selector added: “His own performances have been really good. He was quite close to getting into that T20 World Cup squad as well, but Surya (was) still there, (and) there was no room for him. He in my opinion was a stand-out candidate with enough experience now.”
The reconciliation theory between the two is a tad melodramatic. Mumbai cricket keeps sentiments at arm’s length. It’s a tough world where no quarter is given and none asked for. The philosophy has contributed to Mumbai winning the Ranji Trophy 42 times.
From Agarkar’s perspective, it’s always been purely professional. When he thought Shreyas deserved a contract snub, he took the call. When he felt the player had done enough to be India’s captain in the shortest format, he didn’t hesitate.
It wasn’t an overnight change of heart. Shreyas was made Shubman Gill’s deputy in the ODI team last season. Also, at the selection press conference, Agarkar revealed that Shreyas was pretty close to getting into the T20 World Cup squad.
Just that there was no room. Now there’s a vacancy because the selection committee agreed that Surya wasn’t pulling his weight as a batsman. The logic that Surya lacked the gravitas of his predecessors — Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni — making things easier for Agarkar & Co doesn’t hold water. The chief selector didn’t think twice to move on from Rohit as India’s ODI captain on the back of the Champions Trophy triumph last year. He showed the courage to publicly speak about Rohit and Kohli needing to perform to be in the Indian team.
As a cricketer, Agarkar was utility, not an A-lister, although he scored a Test century at Lord’s and helped India win a Test against Steve Waugh’s all-conquering Australia in Adelaide with a six-wicket haul. A by-product of Shardashram Vidyamandir and a Ramakant Achrekar disciple, Agarkar learnt early in his journey in a true-blue Mumbai maidan way that reputation matters little in cricket. A player is only as good as his last performance.
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