Legendary Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar had lunch with newly appointed BCCI Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar and his former team-mate Yuvraj Singh along with their families in London.
Sachin Tendulkar had lunch with Ajit Agarkar, Yuvraj Singh
Former Indian player, all-rounder Ajit Agarkar have been appointed as the BCCI Chief selector for the Indian men’s cricket team on Tuesday. Same on the day, he was also seen having lunch with Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh.
After lunch, Sachin Tendulkar wrote in a post on Instagram with a photo saying, “Two things that keep us close are friendship and food. Met this bunch for an awesome lunch. #london #lunch #friends.”
Brian Lara, the former West Indies player reacted with a comment on the photo saying, “It was just a hi and a bye for me boys!! You’ll lucky!! My golfing buddies enjoy.”
Sachin has been spending quality time with his family and friends after his retirement from all forms of playing ever since he ended his career in international cricket in 2013. Every summer he continues to work as a mentor for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL.
Ajit Agarkar appointed as BCCI chief Selector
After his Chief selector career in the Mumbai team, the Cricket Advisory Committee members Sulakshana Naik, Ashok Malhotra and Jatin Paranjape recommended the former All-rounder Ajit Agarkar for the role of Chairman of the Men’s Selection Committee based on seniority.
BCCI has appointed Ajit Agarkar as chairmen of the men’s selection committee on the recommendation of the Cricket Advisory Committee. Taking charge of his role as Chief Selector, he named the young batsmen Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma in the T20I squad for the upcoming West Indies tour, which is scheduled to play in the Caribbean and Florida.
Hardik Pandya continues as Indian T20I captain while Suryakumar Yadav has been named his deputy while wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson also returns to the squad. Senior players Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were not named in the squad.
Ajit Agarkar’s career profile
Ajit Agarkar is an all-rounder and has represented India in more than 200 international matches in all three formats of the game. He was known as the fastest bowler in India.
He is the third-highest wicket-taker for India in ODIs and represented India in the 1999, 2003 and 2007 Cricket World Cup tournaments.
He played for the Delhi Daredevils (Now Delhi Capitals) and the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and captained Mumbai to its 40th Ranji Trophy title in 2013. He made his Test and ODI debuts in 1998 and T20I debut in 2006.
In 2013, Agarkar announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. Post-retirement, he began a new career as a cricket analyst. He holds the record for the quickest 50 in ODIs by an Indian coming off just 21 balls.
Agarkar made his ODI debut against Australia at Kochi, on 1 April 1998. He took the wicket of Adam Gilchrist in that match.
Soon after his debut, a 20-year-old Agarkar achieved his first Man of the Match award in a crucial Coca-Cola champions trophy match against New Zealand taking four wickets including the crucial wickets of Stephen Fleming and Craig McMillan while India was defending just 220 on 17 April 1998.
The positive start to his early career, Indian fans were hopeful of him forming a strong bowling partnership with Javagal Srinath. Srinath had been sidelined by injury during Agarkar’s 1st season and was the only successful pace bowler in the National Team.
The emergence of Ashish Nehra in 1999 and Zaheer Khan in 2000 created further competition for pace bowling options especially in home conditions. Frequent injuries to Srinath, Nehra, and Agarkar meant India struggled with pace bowling resources.