Comparative analysis of Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar's international career

It was an emotional night for Ashish Nehra in front of an electrifying crowd at the Feroz Shah Kotla who came up for the India-New Zealand T20I game to watch Nehra bid adieu to the game he played at the highest level for 18 years. The 38-year-old decided to walk out one last time at his home ground where he spent most of his career including his first ever professional game 20 years ago.

He got a chance to bowl the first over from an end named after him, the final over of the game, was supported with some huge cheers from the crowd, a victory lap from the Indian team and the lap of honour his Delhi-mates, Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper and Shikhar Dhawan gave him. Nehra got everything a player dreams of while playing his final game after a long of career but with only 164 International appearances across three formats in 18 years, maybe no.

Team India has often been known for having resources in the batting and spin departments they had very few fast bowlers who served the team developing a long career. Kapil Dev, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar are the longest-serving pacers for India in International cricket but none of them got a farewell like Nehra. In fact, the recent pace prodigies of India, Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma also played more matches in half the span of Nehra’s career taking over 100 wickets more than the retired faster.

Among the top pacers in Indian history in terms of record and their appearances at the International level, Kapil, Zaheer and Srinath have always attained a special in the hearts of the Indian fans, while Agarkar, who made some notable contributions with the bat as well, never got deserved recognition. The Mumbai cricketer, who was more of an all-rounder, returned with a number of bowling records, played his last game for India in 2007. Six years after his last game for India, Agarkar retired from all formats after leading his domestic team Mumbai to Ranji Trophy title.

Everyone watching the reception that Nehra got in his final game might be wondering somewhere in the back of their minds whether Nehra did really deserve all this being someone more than half of whose’ career was spent off the field than actually representing the national team.

The 38-year-old, in fact, deserved all for the efforts he put to push through to represent India for 18 years since his debut and run in to the best of his abilities every time to deliver for his country at the age of 38; an extent to which not many fast bowlers would like to exert the pressure of International cricket on their bodies. The left-arm pacer sustained 12 surgeries during these 18 years and kept pushing his body to contribute to the nation.

Nehra had to make his first big comeback in 2010 after missing five years from 2005 and made vital contributions in the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Yet another injury took another five years of International career from Nehra, who made a return against all the odds in 2016. In the 15 T20Is he played in 2016, he picked up at least one wicket in 14 of them handing India the much-needed breakthroughs.

Agarkar, on the other hand, was no less a legend for India in the ODI format. With 288 wickets in 191 matches between 1998 and 2007, he stood out as India’s 3rd highest wicket-taker in the format. He is quickest Indian to 50 ODI wickets by a handful number of games than the next fastest and has taken 4+ wickets on 12 different occasions including two 5-fers, which is a record for India. He was vital during India’s rise in the ODI format and played an important role in some memorable games such as the Adelaide Test in 2003 where he picked up his only Test 5-fer.

Statistical comparison between Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar:

If we look at the numbers, Agarkar has a clear upper hand over Nehra, though, hasn’t achieved anything less either. These numbers don’t take anything away from the left-arm pacer who has been an inspiration for many by overcoming major obstacles right through his career and gave his best to the country till his last game.

At the same time, Ajit Agarkar deserves a lot more credit than he usually gets as he was among India’s key players for a decade alongside Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Anil Kumble by leading the pace attack after Javagal Srinath and in the absences of the likes of Zaheer and Nehra, who had the reputation of trading with injuries.