Mayank Agarwal, who has solved India's opening problem in Australia, was crazy for airplanes. He wanted to become a pilot but destiny had something else for the Karnataka lad. Despite playing cricket, he kept the doors open for himself and studied science from open schooling. 

Recently, after making debut for India, Mayank scored 76 and 42 in Melbourne and became a part of history. He also added 71 important runs in the first innings of Sydney Test as India look to seal the series 3-1.

“I had a craze for aeroplanes, so I wanted to study science and become a pilot. When I played for Karnataka, I thought, cricket could be a career path for me. That time, I kept my options open and my parents told me that I should pursue the thing I have a passion for. So I did commerce in 11th and 12th so that it’s not too hard and I did science in open schooling while playing cricket,” said Agarwal.

The moment when the 27-year-old got to know about his debut from head coach Ravi Shastri he went quiet.

“Ravi sir had come and told me that I’ve to prepared, I’m going to get a game. Then for 2-5 seconds, I was quiet. This was something I was waiting for, but to make a debut in MCG is something grand. I was very happy to make my debut in Melbourne,” said Agarwal.

So what were captain Virat Kohli's words when he was presenting the cap to Agarwal? “Virat said while giving me the cap that bigger the occasion, bigger the opportunity, so soak it in and it’s a great chance for you to add to the team’s success. I was very nervous, I had a lot of emotions. I was okay until I reached the boundary line, but once I crossed it, I had a lot of emotions running through me. Then I saw the big crowd and realized that I was in the middle of something big,” revealed Mayank.

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