|
 Q:
Your Test debut was at Harare. Is a Test debut very different from a one-day debut.
Does it mean more?
Ajit: For me personally yes and I think most cricketers would agree with me that it
is the ultimate test you can have. It was one of the highest points of my career though I
did not have a great debut.
Q: Why, you didn't perform as you hoped to?
Ajit: Yes, all your life you dream about it and then things don't happen and
unfortunately we lost that Test match but still it was a special moment.
Q: The amazing thing is that
you have been playing international cricket for 2 years, yet you have a world record to
your credit. Did you surprise yourself when you got the the fastest 50 wickets in one-day
cricket?
Ajit: I was bowling well but obviously you do not
expect to get 50 wickets in 23 games. It's nice to have a record against your name but
that probably comes into account when you retire. That's not the aim in my mind now but I
was happy when I got 50 wickets.
Q: You overhauled the great Dennis Lillee. How much has luck or going through a good patch got to do with
it?
Ajit: I guess form really matters a lot. When you
have form everything just works for you. There is luck as well but you work hard all these
years for all this to fall into place also.
Q: Fans say that your best bowling was in the
Singer- Akai Cup in Sri Lanka. When playing against New Zealand, you got 4 for 35. Was
that special?
Ajit: Yes, we were not winning that game and they
were cruising. I got those 4 at the end. Two of those wickets were of batsmen who had
settled in. Of course we went on to win that game. You work everyday to a plan. And it
does not always work out. That day it had to happen. It is always special to take a wicket
for India but to help win a match makes it extra special.
Q: You have taken 4
wickets three times but never a 5 wicket haul. Is that a target you have set yourself to
achieve?
Ajit: A five wicket haul is what a bowler always
longs for. I have not got it but it is there at the back of my mind. I guess when it has
to happen it will. You just can't go and try for it. You keep thinking about it and it
becomes tougher. Luck plays its own part but I think you make your own luck.
Q:
You have also had great moments
with the bat. Would you say in Sharjah in '98 against Sri Lanka when you virtually won the
game for India in the dying overs, is the best memory of the lot?
Ajit: Yes, I guess so. India needed 30 runs in 3
overs and I got 26 of them.
.
Q: When you walked in did
you think that Robin is there and would probably go for the runs.
Ajit: Yes but on that day Robin was not really
striking the ball as well as he normally does and it was a simple equation - we had to hit
boundaries to win the game. That day I connected and got 2 huge sixes. You don't have much
to think about when trying to get 30 off 3 overs. You just watch the ball and try and hit
it.
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"
Injuries
are bound to happen to any sportsman, particularly a bowler. I don't think it has played a
part. You can't pick up 50 wickets every 20 matches. I would love to do that.."
|
Q: You have had sad moments too like the World Cup.
What went wrong ?
Ajit: Well there was nothing particular that
went wrong. I bowled a bad over against the South African's and didn't do too well against
Zimbabwe. Probably because it was the first time I was playing in England and the
conditions were different. It wasn't nerves as I had played enough international cricket
till then. I just couldn't put the ball in the right places.
Q: Sadly you also got chopped for four or five
tournaments after that. How do you face such a situation when only 22.
Ajit: It wasn't really that I was dropped but
because I suffered an injury after the World Cup.
Q: How much role has
injury played? People say that after the first stress fracture you haven't bowled as well
as you used to.
Ajit: I don't think so. Injuries are bound to
happen to any sportsman, particularly a bowler. I don't think it has played a part. You
can't pick up 50 wickets every 20 matches. I would love to do that.
Q: Critics say that Ajit's strike rate is better
than Srinath's or Kumble's but his economy rate is not better. Does it concern you?
Ajit: It does so obviously. You don't like to give
runs away and I have been working on it.
Q: In your recent tour to Australia things went
well in bowling but your batting went wrong.
Ajit: Well wrong is an understatement. It just
happened. No matter how hard you try it is difficult to get out zero four times in a row!
Q: Have you been
embarrassed?
Ajit: I wouldn't say embarrassed but it
was a tough thing to happen and I have learnt from it as well. You just have to move on.
Q: Has fame and
glory changed your life? You are no longer the small and shy boy from Shivaji Park.
Ajit: I guess that is part and parcel of playing.
Well, I can't move about freely as I used to before. There are restrictions now. All these
things are bound to happen.
Q: Does it put off
girls or attract them ?
Ajit: I don't know, you will have to ask the
girls. I don't have a problem there. It is just difficult to find time.
THE END !
Courtesy BBC
- Face to Face ; Adapted from the Indiatimes |
