He might have been off the national selectors' radar for more than four years, but Mumbai paceman Ajit Agarkar has not lost hope of making a comeback into the Indian team at some point in the future.
"I am still hoping to get another opportunity to play for India. I made my first class debut at the age of 19, so people think I am older than what I am. I am still fit. I am happy to be playing for Mumbai again," said the 34-year-old player who will lead Mumbai in the West Zone One-Day Tournament commencing in Mumbai on February 22.
In the time which Agarkar was out of the team a new crop of younger bowlers have arrived on the scene.
Agarkar had walked out of the Mumbai Ranji Trophy campaign this year in the early part of the league stage after he was left out of the playing eleven against Orissa at Cuttack and remained unavailable till the end of the Wasim Jaffer-led team's campaign.
The speedster, who had last played for India in a ODI against England at the Oval in September, 2007 and went out of the national reckoning after being part of the victorious World T20 Cup-winning squad the same year, was given the captaincy of the Mumbai team for the first time since his debut in 1996-97 after Jaffer stepped down from the post.
Agarkar said Mumbai's task in the One-Day tournament was not going to be as easy as it was a decade ago as other teams have improved in the shorter formats of the game.
"Our task is tough. We need to play well throughout the 100 overs. It's not going to be easy. Seven to ten years ago we had it easier, but no longer is that the case," he said.
He was pleased that Mumbai would be playing all their matches at the Wankhede Stadium, but insisted the team had nothing to do with that decision.
"We are happy to be playing at the Wankhede Stadium, though we did not have any say in it. The track here traditionally offers good bounce," he said.
Looking forward to Mumbai's campaign in the zonal One-dayers, Agarkar conceded the squad had always done well at this level though it has been unable to replicate it at the knock-outs for which two teams from each zone would qualify.
"We have always done well in the One-dayers at the league stage but somehow not able to sustain it at the national level in the knock out rounds. This year we have a very good team," he said.
About the opening game against Baroda on Wednesday, Agarkar said the opposite team had been the one which had troubled Mumbai consistently in the past.
"They are a tough team with some very good players and have given us a tough time in the past. There is Yusuf Pathan who is a dangerous player who can turn the match around in a short time. I don't know whether Munaf (Patel) is playing," the new Mumbai captain said.
Asked about Pathan vis-a-vis an India berth and whether such players needed to be given a longer rope than others for their game-chancing ability, Agarkar said it was not for him to comment.
"Whether X, Y, Z is to be a given a longer rope is not for me to say. It's up to the selectors to answer and it's (India captain Mahendra Singh) Dhoni's problem. When batting at no. 7 (in One-Day matches) you don't get time to settle down and stats, to that extent, can be misleading."
For the record Pathan has averaged 27.00 per innings from 56 ODIs in which he has scored 810 runs with 2 centuries to boot.
The 29-year-old all rounder has also grabbed 33 wickets at 40-plus average with his off breaks.
Pathan has also played in 21 T20 Internationals and was a part of the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led squad that won the World T20 Cup in 2007 in South Africa and the coveted World Cup last year at home.
