"Our Coach Was Same": Ajit Agarkar Reveals Why He Was Called 'The Next Sachin Tendulkar'

Former India fast bowler Ajit Agarkar recalled a fascinating story from his early playing days. Agarkar had a seam-up bowling action and succeeded with it in the ODI format. He, however, wanted to be a batsman in his early days and trained under the watchful eyes of late Ramakant Achrekar who was also the coach of Sachin Tendulkar.

Incidentally, Agarkar amassed a lot of runs in his school days and coming from Mumbai he was touted as the next Sachin Tendulkar at the age of 16. Ajit Agarkar recalled the entire incident in a chat with Aakash Chopra on YouTube and opened up about it.

Ajit Agarkar: I used to make runs, Sachin Tendulkar gave me gloves

“We were there was a player for Mumbai, his name was Ajit Agarkar and Sachin Tendulkar has given him pads also. Agarkar will be the next Tendulkar,” Aakash Chopra recalled.

“Actually, it started because I wanted to become a batsman. In school I used to make runs, our coach was same Ramakant Achrekar and he must have seen something in me. Sachin Tendulkar was by then the next big thing to come out of his coaching. Pravin Amre and many others also came before Sachin and was doing well. Many used to come out of his academy,” Ajit Agarkar replied.

“I used to make good runs and that was the perception of people. Now when you play well at the age of 16 you go and play IPL but then there was a fixed step to reach the national team. I used to make runs and there was a news going around that there might be a new batsman coming from Mumbai but at that age you think just of progressing in your game. Sachin gave me gloves. We were in the same school and he thought someone is performing well and so he gave me gloves. I didn’t know him much then. I did not use his pad, may be I could have become a better batsman if I had used his pad,” Agarkar further added.

Agarkar retired with 58 Test wickets, 288 in ODIs and three in the shortest format of the game.