Agarkar likely to play county cricket

Ajit Agarkar, India's most successful bowler in the one-day series against West Indies, is returning home even as the bowlers in the Test squad had a torrid time in the warm-up match in Antigua, conceding as many as 20 extras on the first day.

India lost the series 1-4, but Agarkar finished on top of the Indian bowling averages with nine wickets at 18.11 a piece. Only Ian Bradshaw, the West Indies left-arm seamer, bettered his average, conceding 17.11 runs for each of the nine wickets that he got from the four matches he played.

"That I got into rhythm straightaway made a big difference. My confidence, perhaps, would have been dented had I gone for runs in the first ODI [Kingston]," Agarkar told The Telegraph, the Kolkata-based daily.

India will next play a one-day tournament only in August-September when they travel to Sri Lanka for a tri-series and Agarkar plans to spend the time in between playing some form of professional cricket, possibly in England, where he had played for Middlesex in 2004.

"I will take a complete break for about a week and, then, explore possibilities of either playing for a county or in one of the leagues. Obviously, I've got to establish contact with an agent... I'm definitely going to play some form of cricket," he said.

During the series, Agarkar became the seventh allrounder and the second Indian after Kapil Dev, to score 1000 runs and take 250 wickets. He is the only fast bowler in the current one-day squad to have played previously in West Indies when India won the series 2-1 in 2001-02. He took six wickets in three matches, three for 33 being his best bowling figures.

Agarkar felt the reason why other Indian bowlers were not as successful as him was because they couldn't hit the right length - which is vital on the slow West Indies pitches. Experience, he added, also counted in overseas tours.

To somebody who arrived on the international scene with such gusto, Agarkar seemed resigned to the seesaw nature of his career. "The past eight years have seen me in and out a number of times... I'm disappointed, but my selection or otherwise rests with others."