With India ready to start their next edition of the World Test Championship soon, veteran India player Mayank Agarwal will try to cement his Test spot when they play against New Zealand in the upcoming two-match Test series. The series will begin on November 25th in Kanpur after the second Test in Mumbai beginning on December 3rd as well.
However, Mayank Agarwal was ruled out of the first match against England after he was being hit on the head by a bouncer from the India speedster Mohammed Siraj in the nets and also lost the place in the Test side. And, KL Rahul replaced him in the playing XI and eventually sealed his place as well, scoring 315 runs in four matches.
While talking about that, Mayank Agarwal told TOI: “See, I wouldn’t look into it as that. I would look into it and say that’s how it is. You know, that’s how things happen sometimes. You have your ups and downs. And that’s fine. I don’t think of it as bad luck or anything like that. That’s just part of life. Having the sort of thing that happened is just a part of life. I’ve taken it well in my stride and I’ve moved on from it. I’ve always believed in working hard. If I keep doing the right things, work hard, prepare well, then things will fall in place.”
However, Mayank Agarwal may get the chance in the first Test against New Zealand as Virat Kohli won’t be there due to personal reasons. And, as far as the reports are concerned, the management will try Shubman Gill in the middle-order as a long-term solution as well, while giving Mayank the chance at the top of the order. On the other hand, he is excited to work with newly-appointed head coach Rahul Dravid, who has taken over the responsibility from Ravi Shastri.
“Yes I’m really excited to be working with him again. We’ve had a fantastic experience working with him at India A, and now I’m looking forward to the same with the Indian team. His advice has always been something that stayed with me — he always spoke about managing mental energy. He said: ‘you just have to understand yourself better, understand your game, and manage your mental energy well. When you play a five-day game, you’re playing for long periods of time. You should know when to switch on, when to switch off. And that is something I learnt from him, and I have applied that in my game,” Mayank Agarwal concluded.
