Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar has recalled the time he cheekily asked Ricky Ponting how many Test hundreds he has at Lord’s.
Agarkar famously scored a century at Lord’s in his only Test appearance at the venue in 2002. It’s a feat that has put him on the coveted Lord’s honours board, an achievement that has escaped legendary batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and Ponting.
In the 22 Yarns With Gaurav Kapur podcast, Agarkar was asked if he’d ever made use of those bragging rights with Tendulkar, who is a good friend. “Too much respect for him to do that,” the paceman responded.
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However, he did joke about it to Ponting, during their time together at Kolkata Knight Riders in the early years of the IPL. “I did [rib] quietly to Ricky Ponting once, when he was playing at KKR with me. Just laughingly asked him, ‘How many hundreds at Lord’s ya?’”
“But look, those guys, I would easily swap my one hundred for what they’ve achieved. It’d be too disrespectful to ask them that. But it’s always fun, I was lucky enough to get a hundred there. It’s a special memory.”
One of the more unbelievable aspects of that century came at the other end – Ashish Nehra scored a hard-fought 19, seeing off 54 balls to ensure Agarkar could get to the landmark. That, Agarkar said, was even more remarkable given how he’d fared in the eight balls he faced in the first innings, when he went in as nightwatchman.
Only one person in this photo has a Test hundred @HomeOfCricket 👀 pic.twitter.com/r5i4dMe4Ti
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) May 13, 2020
“If somebody sees the first innings, he went in as nightwatchman, and got hit about four times – twice on his pads, once on his ribs off Flintoff, and fifth ball he was out. If you watched that first innings, nobody would believe he held on for … I think he was eventually 20-odd in that innings,” said Agarkar.
“Once I got my hundred, he even told me, ‘Don’t get out, I want to try and get my fifty’! I remember him whacking Flintoff, pulled him a ball after I got my hundred. It hit one of the hospitality boxes, and came back on the ground. I owe my hundred to him.”
