Having turned his maiden Test century into a double in the ongoing match against South Africa, India opener Mayank Agarwal continues to show his chops at the highest level. Rishad D’Souza takes a look at his rise.

India’s quest to seal their maiden Test series victory in Australia had just received a setback. An inexperienced home team had bounced back from their opening defeat in Adelaide with a rather convincing victory in Perth, and India’s openers were in poor form.

It was against this backdrop that Agarwal made his debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last December. With India batting first and Josh Hazlewood the bowler, he defended his first couple of balls solidly, left the third one decisively and drove crisply off his fourth to get off the mark with three runs. If four balls count for a first impression, Agarwal had already shown he belonged.

Despite a few nervy moments, especially in the first session, Agarwal produced a largely chanceless 76. In India’s second innings, he contributed 42 to India’s 106-8, admirably playing his part in setting up a huge win.

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In his first game he had given a glimpse of both his skill and unflappable temperament, which the Karnataka batsman attributes to a regular meditation routine.

“I incorporate meditation into my daily routine – I’ve done Vipassana courses, and I feel it benefits me when I am out in the middle,” Agarwal told wisden.com before leaving for the tour of West Indies.

“I have learned to stay in the moment. Like I try not to dwell on a ball that beats my edge; that’s going to happen every now and then but it’s about how you can respond to the next delivery and a clear mind helps with that. [Meditation] does help me retain focus for longer periods.”

Retain focus for a ‘longer period’ is exactly what he has done in the first Test against South Africa in Visakhapatnam. In five Tests until this point, he had rolled out three fifties without getting to the three-figure mark. When he finally did, he made it a big one, scoring 215.

Big hundreds, of course, aren’t new to Agarwal. Since the start of November 2017, he has made five first-class scores over 150, including a high of 304 not out. In that same period, no batsman has scored more.

For someone who started his career as a white-ball specialist – his first-class debut came three years after he first played a T20 – that has been an incredible transformation. India and Karnataka legend Rahul Dravid, who was also Agarwal’s coach at India A level, may have had a role to play in building the 28-year-old’s penchant for those mammoth efforts.

[caption id=”attachment_122886″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″] Mayank Agarwal said that Rahul Dravid has further enhanced his game in the longer format[/caption]

“Working with him has helped my game, especially the mental side of it,” said Agarwal. “He would share his experiences, and I tried to gather as much as I could from him. He is a legend of Indian cricket and having someone of his experience to talk to is a great thing.”

Agarwal is yet to make his limited-overs debut for India, but considering that he was called up to India’s squad for the World Cup as an injury replacement, an opportunity might be round the corner. He wasn’t flustered by the fact that he didn’t play a game in the tournament – instead, he took it positively.

“It was a fantastic experience [to be with the World Cup party]. Just being in the dressing room… it felt like I was part of something that meant so much to the team and the fans. The boys were so motivated, and I could sense the excitement. Getting a game would have been great, but being around the team was a learning experience itself. It was good exposure.”

It’s early days in Agarwal’s India career, but the signs are promising. He certainly has the skill and, perhaps more importantly, a sound mental outlook. He has scored heavily in domestic cricket and there’s every reason to believe he will continue to do so at the top level too.

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