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'Ajit, variously spelled Ajith, Agith, Ajay, Aje or Ajeet is a common male name derived from Sanskrit. The name used in various forms in India nationwide, and in parts of Sri Lanka where Tamil people are concentrated. The name means invincible or, literally, he who has not been conquered, from the Sanskrit a (not) and jita (conquered). In Hindu mythology, it was a name for both Shiva and Vishnu.

Some notable people who share versions of this name are:

• Ajith Kumar, a Tamil film actor.
• Ajit Agarkar, an Indian cricketer
• Ajit Bandyopadhyay (character), a fictional character in the detective series Byomkesh Bakshi
• Ajit Bandyopadhyay (actor), a Bengali actor
• Ajit Jain, an Indian-born businessman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group
• Ajit Jogi, a member of the Indian parliament
• Ajit Wadekar, a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian national cricket team
• Ajit Khan, the screen name of Indian film actor Hamid Ali Khan.
• Chaudhary Ajit Singh, a member of the Indian parliament
• HAL Ajeet, an Indian jet fighter plane
• Ajit Singh (Indian politician)
• Ajith C. S. Perera, eminant Sri Lankan, Disability activist, former Test-match-panel Cricket Umpire, Accessibility advisor and Chief Executive of IDIRIYA registered voluntary organisation.

This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2010)

Nana Patekar
Born	Vishwanath Patekar (1951-01-01) 1 January 1951 (age 61) Murud-Janjira, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Actor, Filmmaker
Years active	1978 – present
Spouse	Neelakanti Patekar
Parents	Dinkar Patekar Sanjana Patekar

Vishwanath "Nana" Patekar (born 1 January 1951) is an Indian actor and filmmaker.

Biography[link]

Born Vishwanath Patekar in Murud-Janjira, Maharashtra, to Dinkar Patekar (a painter) and his wife Sanjanabai Patekar. He is an alumnus of the Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai.^[1]

Career[link]

He acted in movies such as Gaman (1978), Mohre (1987) and Salaam Bombay! (1988) and was noticed by the mainstream Bollywood industry for his portrayal of the villain in the 1989 film, Parinda, for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was also awarded the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for the role. He won the Filmfare Best Villain Award in 1992 for Angaar.

In 1994, he won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Krantiveer (1994). He also won the Filmfare Award and the Star Screen Awards in the best actor category.

Patekar has played many types of roles. He has played the occasional villain but been a hero in most of his films. He played a truant, gambling son in Krantiveer (1994), a wife beater in Agni Sakshi (1996), a deaf father to Manisha Koirala in Khamoshi: The Musical (1996) and a schizophrenic in Wajood (1998). In the movie Ab Tak Chappan (2005) he plays a police officer who is a sharpshooter. Patekar has also done comic roles in Welcome (2007) in which he plays a powerful crime lord who once desired to be an actor in films.

He turned director with his movie Prahaar: The Final Attack co-starring Madhuri Dixit. His other films as an actor include Hu Tu Tu and Bluff Master. For his performance in Apaharan, he received the Filmfare Best Villain Award as well as the Star Screen Award Best Villain. He is going to be in Sangeeth Sivan's next film, which is a remake of the Telugu film Athadu (2005) and as the character Anjaneya Prasad (CBI officer), which was originally played by Prakash Raj.

Patekar did some playback singing in the films Yeshwant (1997), Wajood (1998) and Aanch (2003).

He has an honorary Captain's rank from Indian Army. He underwent training for his role as a Army officer in Prahaar and was thus awarded the rank. He joined the Territorial Army in the early 1990s.^{[citation needed]} At the age of 54, he took up the sport of rifle shooting. He qualified for the G.V. Mavlankar Shooting Championship.^[2]

He has also acted in few Marathi movies and plays. He is known to donate generously to the poor.^[3][4]

Nana Patekar starred in the Marathi film Deool, released on 4 November 2011.

Awards[link]

Patekar is the only actor ever to win Filmfare Awards in the Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Villain categories.^[5]

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

Director[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nana Patekar at the Internet Movie Database

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nana Patekar

• Nana's interview

Raj Shrikant Thackeray (Marathi: राज श्रीकांत ठाकरे) (born 14 June 1968) is the founder and president of the right-wing^{[citation needed]} Marathi ethnocentric regional political party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena ("Maharashtra Reformation Army") in the state of Maharashtra, India. His official name is Swararaj which means the king of musical notes.^[1] He is the nephew of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, and a cousin of the current Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray.^[2]

Early life[link]

Raj was born on 14 June 1968 in a Marathi Kayastha (CKP) family to Shrikant Thackeray (younger brother of Bal Thackeray) and Kunda Thackeray (younger sister of Bal Thackeray's wife Meena Thackeray). Raj’s father Shrikant Thackeray was a musician, cartoonist and was also well versed in Urdu. He studied in Balmohan Vidyamandir, Mumbai and graduated from the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art, Mumbai. As a child he is said to have learnt the tabla, the guitar and the violin. He also loved drawing which later turned into a passion for drawing cartoons.

Political career[link]

Raj started his political career with his Uncle Bal Thackeray. Bal Thackeray has been a huge influence on Raj’s life. Raj has been said to have modeled himself after him. In 1997, he started the Shiv Udyog Sena a youth wing for the Shiv Sena. With this he tried to strengthen his youth leader image. "He raised funds for the employment agency with, among other sources, concerts by Michael Jackson and Lata Mangeshkar — and thus, simultaneously, propagated the new brand of the Sena's popular culture and its implications for a nascent generational change within the organization". But his association with the Sena ended in 2006. In January 2006 he resigned from the Sena alleging that it was being "run by petty clerks" because of which it had "fallen from its former glory". There has been quite a lot of speculation over the real reason why he left the party. The popular rumor being that he was being "sidelined" by Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav. In the same year Raj announced his intention to start his own political party. Although separated from his mentor, Raj has always maintained that he does not want to have hostilities with his uncle who "was, is and always will be (his) mentor".

Political Views[link]

Marathi Identity[link]

Raj Thackeray and his party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, state that Maharashtra State, Marathi language and Marathi Manoos are subverted by the influence of non-Marathi politicians within and outside the State, and that these politicians should be opposed in order to attain prosperity for Maharashtra and Marathi people.^[3]

Opposition to Immigrants[link]

Since the creation of his party, Raj Thackeray has opposed immigration into Maharashtra from North India. According to Raj Thackeray, he is against immigrants specifically from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and not from North India or elsewhere, in general. According to him, bad governance, corruption, high crime rates and criminal, politicians in these two states for decades, has degraded the socio-economic conditions there, causing exodus of people from these states to other states, like Maharashtra. This causes unemployment and increased crime rates in Maharashtra and other states which receive these immigrants. Also, due to rising number of immigrants, the politician from these two states have gained power in Maharashtra. He, however has made it clear that he is not against Hindi.^[4]

Violence in Agitations[link]

Raj Thackery and his party MNS have been criticized^{[citation needed]} for use of violence during their agitations, especially directed towards immigrants from UP and Bihar. He is facing several charges for instigating violence in various courts.^{[citation needed]} On use of violence, Thackeray says that violence is a part of all agitations in Indian politics, and there are several cases of much more violence carried out by other parties and organisations. According to him, the incidents of violence involving members of his party have been unduly highlighted by North Indian politicians and journalists.^[4]

Supporter of Narendra Modi's Governance[link]

Thackeray is an admirer of Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi for his governance, and the development of Gujarat during his tenure. In August 2011, Raj Thackeray visited Gujarat on a 9-day trip as 'state guest' to study the development in Gujarat. He also advised politicians in Maharashtra, irrespective of party, to take lessons from Modi and Gujarat.^[5] He has also expressed support for Modi for the post Prime Minister of India for the 2014 Lok Sabha (general) election.^[5]

Agitations[link]

Marathi signboards for shops[link]

In July 2008, Raj issued a public warning that Mumbai shops needed to have Marathi signboards in addition to the existing English signboards. He warned that after one month, MNS workers would start blackening non-Marathi signboards.^{[citation needed]} While there had been a law to this effect passed earlier by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, it had not been enforced.^{[citation needed]}

Raj had also insisted that the Marathi signboards had to be at least as big as the English signboards. A number of big shopowners, notably Viren Shah (Roopam chain) went to court against this move. The high-court provided them relief, passing a judgement that the Marathi signboards did not have to be as big as English signboards.^[6]

In September 2008, MNS workers resorted to blackening signboards, to enforce the demand, after which most shop owners complied. Six MNS workers were arrested but later released on bail. The Congress government was dilatory in filing chargesheets against them, following which the Maharashtra high-court passed strictures against the government. When the government prosecutor submitted in December that the chargesheets had not been filed as investigation was ongoing, the judge remarked sarcastically whether this was a murder case to warrant such long investigations, three months after the arrest of the MNS workers, but Raj was attempting to enforce a rule previously on the books.^[7]

Agitation against Jet Airways layoffs[link]

In October 2008, on the eve of the major Indian festival Diwali, Jet Airways laid off 800 temporary workers and announced layoffs of an additional 1100 workers. The laid-off workers included Marathi as well as North-Indians. These workers met Raj Thackeray and asked him to intervene. Following this, Raj Thackeray declared that most of these workers had paid security deposits to the company, and he would meet Jet management to plead their case. Unless Jet Airways cancelled the layoffs, his party would not allow any Jet Airways plane to take off from any airport in Maharashtra.^[8]

Within 12 hours of Raj Thackeray's declaration, Jet chairman Naresh Goyal reversed the layoffs and reinstated the sacked employees. He claimed that he did it on his own and that there was no political pressure on him. Leftist Unions, Shivsena & Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel later tried to take credit for the decision. On announcement of the layoffs, Praful Patel had claimed that he had no jurisdiction over the layoffs issue.^[9] Sacked Jet employees on the other hand stated that they were warned by Jet management on reinstatement, not to meet Raj Thackeray to thank him.^[10]

Demand for Telecom customer service in Marathi[link]

Telecom companies in Maharashtra had been providing customer service in English & Hindi only. Raj demanded that all telecom companies operating in Maharashtra start providing the service in Marathi also and set a deadline of 27 February 2010, after which his party MNS would launch an agitation. Following this demand, all telecom companies complied, introducing Marathi as an additional option in their customer service.^[11]

Maharashtra-Karnataka Border Issue[link]

In Dec 2011, Raj Thackeray meeting a group from MES (Maharshtra Ekikaran Samiti) advised them that they should revisit their stand of merging Belgaum with Maharashtra in the interest of marathi speaking people of belgaum. In a major departure from the stance previously taken by traditional right wing groups of Maharashtra, Raj Thackeray argued that a practical approach rather than an emotional one was the need of the hour. However, he said that if the supreme court itself gives a decision in favor of Belgaum's merger he would welcome it, although the local situation in Belgaum should not be vitiated for the sake of it. He asked the MES leaders to first identify the real issue as to whether marathis in belgaum are being targeted for espousing the cause of marathi language or because they were supporting the merger of Belgaum with Maharashtra. Lamenting that strikes and bandhs only add to the misery of the Marathi-speaking community in Belgaum, Thackeray said: "If the Karnataka government is ready to respect the Marathi people, their culture and language, then there is nothing wrong in Belgaum being there."^[12] His comments were strongly criticized by his cousin Uddhav Thackeray as a cruel joke on the marathi manoos.^[13]

Controversies[link]

2008 violence against UP & Biharis[link]

At a rally in Shivaji Park, Raj warned that if the dadagiri (intimidating dominance) of these people in Mumbai and Maharashtra continued, he would be compelled to make them leave the metropolis.^[14] Raj was arrested along with a Samajwadi Party leader, Abu Azmi, for their involvement in the fracas. He was released on paying a penalty of 15,000 (US$299.25).

Acquittal in Kini murder case[link]

In July 1996, Ramesh Kini was found dead in a cinema in Pune. Kini was a tenant in a ramshackle tenement in central Mumbai, whose landlord, Laxmikant Shah, was trying to evict him. Shah also happened to be a close childhood friend of Raj Thackeray. A CBI enquiry was later issued for the case, but the CBI dismissed the case as one of suicide.^[15]

Kohinoor mill controversy[link]

Shiv Sena opposed sale of mill land, but Raj Thackeray bid for and won mill land in prime Mumbai real estate.^[16] On 21 July 2005, Raj and Unmesh Joshi, son of Shiv Sena Leader Manohar Joshi purchased a five acre plot of land, Kohinoor Mill No. 3, located across the road from the Shiv Sena party headquarters in Dadar, Mumbai for 421 crore (US$83.99 million). The NCP leader from Mumbai, Sachin Ahir, objected to the sale of the Kohinoor Mill land, saying that there were forty bids, yet only three were short-listed. He demanded a re-bid as there was a lack of transparency in the move.^[17]

Reaction to Jaya Bachchan's controversial statement[link]

The words of Jaya Bachchan, veteran actor and sitting Rajya Sabha MP of Samajwadi Party (with whom Raj's MNS has crossed swords a number of times), during the Music launch of the Hindi film Drona, were deemed hurtful by Raj Thackeray.

Jaya's words 'Hum UP (Uttar Pradesh) ke log hain, isliye Hindi mein baat karenge, Maharashtra ke log Maaf Kijiye' (We are from UP region, so we will speak in Hindi. People of Maharashtra, please excuse) in response to the film's Director, Goldie Behl, making his introductory speech in English and subsequently encouraging the actress Priyanka Chopra to speak in Hindi.^[18]

Raj commented that Jaya had no business alluding to all the people of Maharashtra in that statement. He threatened to ban all Bachchan films unless Jaya apologised in a public forum for hurting Maharashtrians. MNS workers began to attack theatres screening The Last Lear starring Jaya Bachchan's husband, Amitabh Bachchan. Shivsena MP Sanjay Raut also criticized Jaya's statement saying: "After making all your success & fortune in Mumbai, if you feel like saying that, We are From UP, its very unfortunate." It was only after Amitabh tendered an apology that the screening resumed.^[19]

Following Raj's threat, Mumbai police acted against Raj, issuing a gag order preventing him from speaking to the media.^[20]

Remarks on Chhath Puja and Migrants[link]

Raj reproached North Indian leaders for politicizing Chhath Puja, a festival popular in Bihar, calling it a "drama" and a "show of numerical strength". He stated that the Chhath Puja was a political gimmick by some parties to attract the north Indian vote. He questioned the motives by citing that the puja is performed on the banks of a river, not the sea as it was being performed.^[21] He demanded that they only celebrate Maharashtra day and not UP day in Maharashtra. A petition was filed in the Patna civil court on 8 February against him for his remarks.^[22] His statements drew flak from political leaders across the board, especially those from the North Indian states. The then Indian Railways minister and former chief minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, vowed that he would come to Mumbai and perform Chhath Puja in front of Raj's house, which he failed to perform. He also ridiculed Raj saying, "He [Raj] is a child in politics".^[21] The Navnirman Sena leader accused migrants of swamping Maharashtra, India's most industrialised state, in search of jobs.^[23]

The MNS chief also accused migrants of disrespecting the local culture. On 9 February, expressing his stance on new migrants settling in Mumbai, Raj said, "New immigrants to the city should be denied entry into the city, while those already staying here should show respect to the Marathi 'manoos' and his culture".^[24]

Mumbai-Bombay Controversy: Wake Up Sid[link]

On 2 October 2009, MNS workers disrupted the screening of the film Wake Up Sid on its release in a few Pune and Mumbai theatres, after Raj objected to references in the movie to "Bombay" rather than "Mumbai". The city of Mumbai was referred to as "Bombay" in many scenes^[25] and in some songs (lyrics by Javed Akhtar). The film's producer, Karan Johar, visited Raj's residence to apologise, and agreed to all of Raj's terms, including an apology on each of the 700 frames in the film.^[26]

Personal life[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2012)

Raj is married to Sharmila, daughter of famous Marathi theater/films actor, producer-director Mohan Wagh. They have one son named Amit Thackeray and one daughter Urvashi Thackeray.

Like his father and uncle Raj is a painter and cartoonist. He had also expressed his desire to work for Walt Disney Studios. Raj Thackeray said when asked what he would have done had he not joined politics? "In my college days, I wanted to work with Walt Disney Studios. I drew cartoons even before my foray in politics. Film making is also a passion. I would have been doing either of these things."

External links[link]

• Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Official Website
• Outlook India Back Issues
• Raj Thackerey's response in The Indian Express to Sudheendra Kulkarni's criticism
• New legal strategy to tame Raj

References[link]

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Ajit Anantrao Pawar
MLA
In office 1991 - 1995, 1995 - 1999, 1999 - 2004, 2004 - 2009 2009 - Present
Constituency	Baramati
Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra State  India
In office November 10, 2010 – Present
Preceded by	Chhagan Bhujbal
Personal details
Born	(1959-07-22) 22 July 1959 (age 52) Deolali Pravara, Taluka - Rahuri, District - Ahmednagar
Political party	NCP
Spouse(s)	Mrs. Sunetra Pawar
Children	Parth Pawar (Elder son) Jay Pawar (Younger son)
Residence	Sahyog, Baramati, Pune
Religion	Hindu
Website	http://ajitdadapawar.net/
As of November 12, 2010

Ajit Anantrao Pawar (Marathi: अजित अनंतराव पवार) (born July 22, 1959), popularly known as Dada (Big Brother) is a Maharashtra politician currently serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He is the nephew of Sharad Pawar, the Union Cabinet Minister of Agriculture and the chief of Nationalist Congress Party.

Early Life and Family History[link]

Ajit Pawar is the son of Anantrao Pawar who was an elder brother of Sharad Pawar. Anantrao followed a less conventional career of working for V. Shantaram's Rajkamal studio. His paternal grandfather, Govindrao Pawar was employed by the Baramati farmers' Cooperative ( Sahakari Kharedi Vikri Sangh) whilst his grandmother, Shardabai looked after the family farm at Katewadi, ten kilometers from Baramati.

Political life[link]

Ajit Pawar made his foray into politics in 1982 when he was elected to a sugar cooperative body. Ajit Pawar was then elected as a chairman of the Pune District Co-operative Bank (PDC) in 1991, the post he held for 16 years. It merits attention that when he took over, the bank deposits were just Rs 300 crore. When he relinquished office the bank deposits had increased to an astronomical figure of Rs 160000 crores (approximately $32 billion)^{[citation needed]} . During the same time he was elected to Lok Sabha from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. He later vacated his Lok Sabha seat in favour of Mr. Sharad Pawar who had then become a Defense minister in Mr. P. V. Narasimha Rao's government.

Thereafter, he moved to the state legislature and was elected as a MLA from Baramati Vidhan Sabha constituency in 1991. He went on to become minister of state for Agriculture and Power (June 1991 - November 1992) in Mr. Sudhakarrao Naik's government. Later he became minister of state for Soil Conservation, Power and Planning (November 1992 - February 1993) when Mr. Sharad Pawar returned to the state as chief minister.

When Congress-NCP combine came into power in 1999 Mr. Ajit Pawar was promoted to the rank of a cabinet minister. He became minister for the coveted Irrigation department (October 1999 - December 2003) in Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh's government. He was given additional charge of Rural Development department (December 2003 - October 2004) in Mr. Sushilkumar Shinde's government.

When Congress-NCP combine returned to power in 2004 he retained the Water Resources ministry (name changed from Irrigation department to Water Resources department) (November 2004 - October 2009) in Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh's government and later in Mr. Ashok Chavan's government. He also became the Guardian minister for Pune district in 2004 and has held the post since then. There are allegations that as the minister for water resources he spared no efforts to help in the development of Lavasa,

^[1] a project touted as a "vision of Sharad Pawar". The Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) leased 141.15 hectares to Lavasa in August 2002, which included part of Warasgaon dam reservoir. The lease between MKDVC and Lavasa was executed at rates far below the market rate.^[2] This transfer was illegal as the mandatory permission from the revenue department was not taken.^{[citation needed]}

Since 2007 corporation elections and subsequent Zilla Parishad elections,he has one umbrella control over cultural city of Maharashtra, Pune and its rural area.He is also regarded as stringent and hard liner administrator. He is credited for efforts taken to resolve traffic congestion in Pune and Pimpri-Cinchwad through vast constructions of flyovers,sub-ways and broad roads which were at times matters of criticism. He has also envisioned the implementation of Metro Rail project for mass transport in Pune. He make the Pimprichinchvad the good model of development in India.In 2011-12 Pimparichinchvadhas recived the frist national award in urban develpment.

See also[link]

• Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra
• Sharad Pawar

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ajit Pawar profile on hypermart .net

Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar (Marathi: अजित भालचंद्र आगरकर)  pronunciation (help·info) (born 27 June 1977) is an Indian international cricketer, who has been on the fringes of the Indian side in both tests and one day matches since his debut in 1998. He is a fast bowling all-rounder, in the mould of Kapil Dev, who usually bats just below the wicket keeper at number 8, and often opens the bowling.

Personal life[link]

A resident of Narayan Pujari Nagar on Worli Seaface, he was raised by his grandparents at Shivaji Park where many a great cricketer practised and went on to play for India. He is an alumnus of Ruparel College in Matunga, Mumbai. He is married to Fatima Ghadially a shia and she follow shia islam. they have a son named Raj.

Bowling and Batting Style[link]

He has a relatively short figure as compared to his other fast bowling counterparts. But still he could bowl at speeds more than 90MpH (~145 km/hr) owing to his athletic body and a good run up speed. He has had a knack to bowl the reverse swing deliveries when the ball gets old. He learnt bowling from Kapil Dev. He is a right hand batsman .He has been a decent batsman in ODIs and tests with a highest score of 95 and 109* respectively in each format.He usually bats lower down the order but has batted top of the order in ODIs.

Career[link]

Agarkar made his ODI debut against Australia in Kochi, on 1 April 1998. He took the crucial wicket of Adam Gilchrist in that match.

Soon after his debut, a 20 year Agarkar achieved his first Man of the match award in a crucial Coca cola champions trophy match against Sri Lanka taking three crucial wickets folding Sri Lanka for just 98.^[1]

Amongst Agarkar's better performances were his performances in Australia in the Test series of 1999, and also in the test series in 2003. At Adelaide Oval in 2003, Agarkar took 6/41, to help India to win their first test in Australia in over 20 years. Agarkar has performed better in ODI cricket, where he takes wickets regularly, although his economy rate is high.He has also had a number of good batting performances. He was the best Indian bowler in the one day series during India's tour of West Indies in 2006.

He is currently the 3rd highest wicket taker (288) for India in ODI's after Javagal Srinath (315) and Anil Kumble (337). One of the his notable performances in the domestic cricket came in the 2009-10 Ranji trophy finals against Karnataka in which he took 5 wickets in the second innings ensuring a narrow win for Mumbai.

Agarkar represented Kolkata Knight Riders in Indian Premier League for three seasons. In the fourth season, he was contracted by Delhi Daredevils for US$210,000. Many believe that the selectors have not been just to him.

In February 2012 it was announced that Agarkar would captain Mumbai in the 2012 Vijay Hazare Trophy.^[2]

As an All Rounder[link]

He was touted by many as being India's next great fast bowling all-rounder, like Kapil Dev, however his performances have never been consistent enough. In ODIs there was a time when john wright used to send him as a pinch hitter in ODIs up the order to increase the scoring rate.He demonstrated good batting skills with no slogging . Some of his acclaimed knocks in ODIs are when he smacked the fastest 50 by an Indian off 21 balls in 2000 against Zimbabwe and took 3 wickets as well in that match,^[3] in another knock 95 against west indies in 2002 at jamshedpur.^[4] In the same season in 2002 he joined the group of few Indians to have scored a century at the mecca of cricket, The Lords, when he scored a century in the first test of series batting at no. 8.^[5] A century at Lords has eluded even the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.

As a fielder he has been very good owing to his quick reflexes. In an era when Indian fielders dithered from diving around, he was an exception. But due to lack of confidence shown by the selectors in him he couldn't bloom well.

He got a runner up medal in 2003 world cup which was a surprised achievement for him.

Records[link]

Early in his career, Agarkar broke Dennis Lillee's world record for the fastest 50 wickets in ODIs, achieving the feat from only 23 matches. He held the record from 1998 until 2009, when Ajantha Mendis achieved the feat from just 19 matches. Agarkar holds the Indian record of scoring the fastest 50 in ODI: he scored 50 of 21 balls. Agarkar also holds another ODI record, which is the quickest in terms of least number of matches played to take 200 wickets and complete 1000 runs. Agarkar achieved this feat in 133 matches breaking the previous record held by South African Shaun Pollock, who accomplished this feat in his 138th match.

He scored an unbeaten Test century at Lord's in 2002, batting at number eight.

Conversely, Agarkar attained the feat of seven consecutive innings resulting in ducks against Australia, an unfortunate honour.^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Cricinfo Player Profile : Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar

v t e India squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup 1 Azharuddin (c) 2 Ganguly 3 Jadeja 4 Ramesh 5 Dravid 6 Robin Singh 7 Agarkar 8 Kumble 9 Mongia (wk) 10 Tendulkar 11 Prasad 12 Chopra 13 Mohanty 14 Srinath 15 Khurasiya Coach: Gaekwad

v t e India squad – 2003 Cricket World Cup Runners-Up 3 Harbhajan Singh 5 Dravid 7 Srinath 9 Agarkar 10 Tendulkar 11 Kaif 12 Yuvraj 18 Kumble 20 Patel 24 Ganguly (c) 28 Mongia 34 Zaheer 44 Sehwag 64 Nehra 66 Bangar Coach: Wright

v t e India squad – 2006 ICC Champions Trophy 1 Dravid 2 Tendulkar 3 Agarkar 4 Dhoni 5 Harbhajan Singh 6 Kaif 7 Mongia 8 Patel 9 Pathan 10 Powar 11 Raina 12 Sehwag 13 R. P. Singh 14 Sreesanth 15 Yuvraj Singh Coach: G Chappell

v t e India squad – 2007 Cricket World Cup 3 Harbhajan 7 Dhoni 10 Tendulkar 12 Yuvraj 13 Munaf 19 Dravid (c) 21 Ganguly 27 Uthappa 34 Zaheer 36 Sreesanth 37 Kumble 44 Sehwag 56 Pathan 68 Agarkar 99 Karthik Coach: Chappell

v t e India squad – 2007 ICC World Twenty20 (1st Title) 1 Harbhajan 2 Dhoni(c) 3 R Sharma 4 Yuvraj 5 Joginder 6 YK Pathan 7 Gambhir 8 Uthappa 9 R. P. Singh 10 Sreesanth 11 Chawla 44 Sehwag 12 IK Pathan 13 Agarkar 14 Karthik Coach: Rajput