Currently, in the Indian domestic circuit, Mayank Agarwal is one of the more experienced players and he is enjoying a purple patch in the recent months as well. A fantastic double century in the unofficial Test match for India A against South Africa A gave the best testimony of his career growth.
Speaking to the media at the end of the third day’s play in Bengaluru, the opener said, “Even though I am a little disappointed that I could not add to the runs on Monday morning, the fact that we are doing well as an India A side is more important.” Talking about the bowlers of India A, Mayank said, “Siraj has been good with the ball. In fact, we believe in bowling as a unit. Navdeep Saini and Rajneesh Gurbani also bowled really well.”
India A still requires 5 more wickets on the fourth day, to complete what is likely to be an emphatic win as the visitors are still trailing by more than 100 runs. Agarwal, who has been doing well consistently at the domestic level, is yet to make his debut for the senior team.
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When asked about not getting a national call-up till now, the double centurion replied, “Earning a call-up or being pre-occupied with that thought is just not possible. We have a lot of games to play and it is important to focus on what’s happening in the present. When it has to happen, the India call-up will surely come by.”
Before the on-going unofficial Test match in Bengaluru, Agarwal was part of India A tour of England with the legendary batsman Rahul Dravid as the coach. Mayank went on to score three centuries and a half-century in the ten innings that he played.
Talking about the England tour, Mayank said, “It definitely was not the usual English summer, but we learned a lot and it was a great much-needed experience for us. A lot of the team had never played in England, and like Rahul Dravid said these tours will help us improve our cricket.”
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Despite being in a great form, Agarwal failed to deliver in IPL 2018 as he only managed to score 120 runs in the 11 games he played for the Kings XI Punjab franchise, but he is not unduly worried given the year he has had. Mayank concluded, “Understandably the IPL is a big tournament for all of us, but over the course of the year I have performed badly in one out of five tournaments. I’ll take that all day long. My focus is only on scoring runs and whatever has to happen, will happen.”
