Agarkar had to pull out of the forthcoming tour of New Zealand yesterday after a bone scan detected that the pain on the second toe of his left foot was caused by stress fracture.

The talk on Thursday in cricketing circles was all about birthday boy Agarkar, who gave himself and his hyper-active telephone a respite by activating the answering machine.

One theory debated was that Agarkar was paying the price of turning into a fast bowler pretty late, which meant the muscles that were important for being a fast bowler were underdeveloped.

``Ajit was a pure batsmen till as late as 1994 when he went for the BCCI under-16 camp under Frank Tyson. An innings of 345 (vs St Xavier's in an Inter-schoolsquarter-final match) vouched for his batting credentials,'' recalls Makarand Waingankar, chief co-ordinator of the Elf-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy.

Agarkar, responding to the message left on his answering machine, said it was true that he was a batsman who also bowled in his school days. ``It was the absence of a second new ball bowler in a 1995 Kanga League match for Cricket Club of India which made Sachin (Tendulkar) turn to me. He saw some talent in me as a bowler and encouraged me to take it up seriously,'' Agarkar revealed, but did not agree that his bowling muscles are suffering from the late development as a bowler.

Balwinder Sandhu, who nurtured Agarkar as Mumbai coach till last year, said he was not surprised to see the youngster breaking down so early in his career.

``Ajit has a weak upper body and not such strong legs and back. His short run-up put pressure on his lower back, so I asked him to increase it by about four paces. Also, his front foot used to go far too across than desired. Withthe result that he was opening out his front shoulder a bit too early trying in trying to bowl quick. But Ajit is intelligent, a good student of the game and willing to learn. I am confident he will be able to make the necessary adjustments,'' explained Sandhu.

Dr Kinjal Suratwala, a sports medicine expert who has been associated with Agarkar for the last five years, believes that the youngster's injury could be because of landing problems and overuse.

``Ajit's work ethics is unquestionable. What he needs to do and has been doing, is to strengthen his back, quadreceps, hamstring and upper body. His physique is misleading. He is very strong,'' said Dr Suratwala.

TA Sekhar, the spirit behind the MRF Pace Academy in Dennis Lillee's absence, is convinced Agarkar's stress fracture has nothing to do with his action.

``Maybe he is not wearing the correct shoes, I don't know. He generates tremendous pace for such a thin frame. And as expectations rise, he may be putting more effort without his knowledge. Muchof his ability to generate pace comes from his final stride. He needs to build up his upper body, legs and shoulders.

``Lillee was impressed with Agarkar's bowling when he saw him in August. We asked him to make corrections in his run-up and final delivery stride. He now feels more comfortable with the reduced strain on his back. Ajit should go far. He is a cool lad with a good attitude. He has good variation and is quite sharp and is certainly one of the best crop of fast bowlers we have found in recent time,'' Shekar added.

Sandhu feels that the BCCI must look at a pool of six or seven fast bowlers to prevent such breakdowns. The overloaded is killing.