RX Murali: Mayank Agarwal was under pressure

India’s Mayank Agarwal celebrates his half-century on Day Three of second Test against New Zealand at Wankhede yesterday. Pic/PTI

On his Test debut back in 2018, opener Mayank Agarwal, 30, played a crucial role in India's 137-run triumph, scoring 76 and 42 during, against Australia at Melbourne.

Since then however, excluding the ongoing Mumbai Test, he has represented the country in just 15 matches, scoring 1,082 runs that includes three centuries.

In the ongoing series too, he got a chance to open against New Zealand the innings in the Kanpur Test last week only because regular openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul were not part of the squad.

He managed just 13 and 17 in the drawn encounter. Given these scores and the fact that he has not established himself as a regular Test opener yet, Agarwal was under a lot of pressure going into the Mumbai Test, revealed his coach RX Murali.

Tough competition

"Mayank was under pressure as he had not been getting enough opportunities. He knew that this was the time for him to capitalise on it as the regular openers are not there. He was well aware of that and determined to make good use of the opportunity as there is enough competition in the team," Murali told mid-day from Bangalore.

RX Murali

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Agarwal grabbed the opportunity with both hands, scoring 150 in the first innings and followed it up with 62 in the second essay at the Wankhede on Sunday. Murali explained how he worked on Agarwal's mindset and approach as he prepared for the NZ series.

"We were waiting for the opportunity and when it presented itself we knew we could do well only if we prepared hard. So, our entire preparation was like that. If you are out of the team, the next preparation is to get that break again and when you get it, then it's about how you can make it big," added Murali.

Team India have a good line-up of opening batsmen that Rohit, Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Agarwal and Shubman Gill. There is stiff competition for that position, so Murali felt that everyone needs to raise the bar.

Consistency matters

"It is like Charles Darwin's theory - Survival of the Fittest. For cricketers, Darwin's theory is slightly altered. It's about the survival of the performer. So, everybody is pushed now. Your best comes out when you are on the brink of your comfort zone. Everybody is under pressure now, whoever it is, because consistency is the name of the game. The moment somebody starts showing more consistency, everybody else has to raise the bar now. This can only be good for Indian cricket," explained Murali.

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