The Indian opener, Abhinav Mukund had a scintillating performance with his bat in the domestic season as he scored 560 runs for Tamil Nadu in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, despite the fact that his team failed to reach the quarterfinals. Even his teammate Varun Chakravathi has taken 22 wickets in the tournament.
Abhinav believes that Tamil Nadu started out as one of the favorites, but due to frequent injuries, they failed to capitalize. Their fast bowler Yo Mahesh joined T Natarajan and Vignesh K on the injured list when he suffered a knee injury against Assam and was ruled out of the tournament.
Talking about the same, Mukund said, “I think we lost a couple of close games. We could have pulled it off against Jharkhand and definitely (against) Jammu and Kashmir as well. But then again, yes, we were completely outplayed against Haryana no doubt. I feel if we could have been a lot more proactive and not lost three of our best bowlers to injury, things would have been very different.”
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Abhinav had not managed to get big numbers under his belt for India Red during his stint in the Duleep Trophy, but, he tore into opposition bowlers at the Vijay Hazare Trophy games as he scored at an average of 70 on pitches which hardly had anything to offer.
On whether that would be enough to please the selectors, the Mukund said, “Selection is not in my hands. All I can do is score runs. And if I do good, definitely people will take notice. All I know is that I would look forward to continue enjoy batting.”
Abhinav has represented India in seven Tests, averaging 22.85 with the highest score of 81, which he collected in the second innings against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2017. However, he soon lost out on his spot because of his inconsistent performances. He has also featured in the IPL for both Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
On whether being a popular face adds to the pressure to perform, Abhinav said, “It’s always good that you have a reputation. It is earned over a few years. People know me and my game. I see it more as a challenge than pressure.”
