Mayank Agarwal has hit a purple patch in the whites for India. The opening batsman has been enjoying a fine run of form ever since making his Test debut in Australia last year where he announced his arrival in style with a 76-run-knock in the Boxing Day Test. He followed that up a with a solitary half-century in West Indies series before notching up two double hundreds in the span of just four Test matches at home.
Agarwal played a stunning knock of 243 runs in the recently-concluded first Test against Bangladesh at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. The stylish right-hander started cautiously and rescued India after the early dismissal Rohit Sharma before launching a scathing attack on the Bangladesh bowlers. Toying around the visitor’s bowling attack, Agarwal slammed 28 fours and 8 sixes in his career-best knock.
While it might be argued that Mayank can be an equally good as an opener in white-ball cricket, having performed consistently well in the domestic circuit before making his India debut, the Karnataka batsman is nowhere close to making the cut into the limited-overs side ahead of the West Indies series at home. India are scheduled to play three-match T20I series against West Indies starting from December 6 and the Indian team management is in no hurry to rope in Agarwal in the T20I side.
“Where is the space in the opening department in the limited overs team? Rohit (Sharma) and Shikhar (Dhawan) are your established openers. There’s no slot at the top for even someone like KL Rahul now. Virat (Kohli) will come back into the team as well,” a source was quoted as saying by Times Of India, on the prospect of Agarwal opening the batting for India in limited-overs cricket.
“Players can go through ups and downs. Mayank can only come in only if Rohit or Shikhar want to take rest, but he won’t be rushed into the T20 side,” added the source.
