Mayank Agarwal is the newest addition of the Indian team at the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019, replacing an injured Vijay Shankar in the squad of 15. The Karnataka opener joined the team in Leeds ahead of the final league stage clash against Sri Lanka at Headingley on Saturday (July 6).
“I found out the news that I had to join the team when I was having a hair-cut. It’s a great feeling to be part of the Indian team that is playing the World Cup,” Agarwal told bcci.tv.
The youngster has a fantastic record in domestic 50-over cricket, averaging 48.71 from 75 games with a strike-rate of over 100. Agarwal, who turned out for Kings XI Punjab in IPL-12, took a well-deserved break after the T20 tournament and was preparing for the ‘A’ tour of West Indies before he got the call-up for the World Cup.
“I took about a week, week-and-a-half’s break after the IPL. I made sure that I still practice and train five days a week. We can really use the off-season to train really hard and work on the things that I need to add to my armoury,” the 28-year-old said.
Asked to elaborate on what he was working on during the off-season, Agarwal said, “I worked a lot on my strength training and since I was preparing for the ‘A’ tour of West Indies, closer to that I started to do a lot of power-training and added a lot of running. It’s good to have a little time off when I can on my strength.”
