From Sachin to Sehwag: Mayank Agarwal’s Romance With Cricket

Mayank Agarwal has been a revelation this season in the domestic cricket circuit. With 2,141 runs in the current season, Mayank has broken all domestic batting records in sight. He became the first batsman to cross the 2,000-run barrier in a season. The Vijay Hazare trophy is just an icing on the cake.

Before tasting success with his state team, Mayank had already represented the country at the Under-19 World Cup in 2010 in New Zealand, where he was the top-scorer for India.

But how did Mayank’s journey start?

Like any other kid in the nineties, Mayank started his love story with cricket in front of the television set. The setting was perfect. The ‘Superman from India’, Sachin Tendulkar was hitting his nemesis Shane Warne for down the ground sixes and it all seemed so perfect for the young Mayank. He just figured out his calling.

I was sitting and watching TV at home. I saw Sachin Tendulkar bat. My fondest memory of watching cricket was when Sachin was hitting runs to Shane Warne’s bowling, and that was something that got me to play the game

Mayank Agarwal

By the time he had reached the sixth standard, Mayank started playing for his school team at Bishop Cotton Boys’ School in Bengaluru.

“Ram Das sir was our coach in school at the time. He encouraged me to take up the sport,” emphasised Mayank.

Not only the coach, Mayank’s parents were also supportive enough to encourage him to take up cricket, but not at the cost of his education.

Mayank said, “I am really grateful to my parents. They have always supported me. They always told me that I can pursue cricket as long as I don’t neglect studies.”

While playing for the India A side, Mayank had the privilege to work with Rahul Dravid. According the Mayank, the experience was second to none. “Training under Rahul Dravid was fantastic. The kind of knowledge he has and the kind of understanding for the game he possesses is tremendous. It was really really good to work under him.”

Even before his successful stint this season, Mayank had a chat with Dravid, who had a word of advice or two for him.

“I had a chat before the season. He gave good inputs, such as managing my mental energy. That was something I had no clue about. When he threw light on it, I thought about it and it worked wonders for me,” said Mayank.

Despite stints with Rahul Dravid, Mayank has hailed his current coach RX Murali as the biggest influence in his life.

With a silverware finally in the bag, Mayank can now look forward to this season of Indian Premier League, where he would be playing for Kings XI Punjab, under his favourite cricketer Virender Sehwag.

“Really looking forward to IPL 2018. I am really excited about it. It is a new franchise for me and since my playing days, Virender Sehwag was my favourite cricketer. So I would really like to know what is it like to play under him,” said Mayank.

In the earlier editions, Mayank had played for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils and Rising Pune Giants.

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