IND v SA 2019: "Will judge how good he is in a year or so", Ganguly reserves comment on Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal just scored his first Test hundred for Indiain the first innings.

Mayank Agarwal | AFP

Mayank Agarwal has had a wonderful start to his Test career but former skipper Sourav Ganguly thinks only time will tell whether he is actually India's first-choice opener for all conditions or not. 

Agarwal struck a memorable double hundred to put India in command of the first Test against South Africa in Visakhapatnam. The right-hander from Karnataka previously contributed a couple of fine half-centuries in India's historic maiden Test series victory in Australia. 

"The problem is we come to conclusions very quickly. With one hundred we will say he's your first choice opener and so on. But with a couple of failures, you would say otherwise. This has to stop," Ganguly told PTI

Read Also: Agarwal credits stretched batting sessions, long-distance running behind his success

"Any young player who is doing well is a very good sign for Indian cricket. He played well in Australia," he added. "He struggled a bit in the West Indies. But in the first Test at home, he's got a double against South Africa. Let him play for a year or so then will judge how good he is."

Ganguly further put the onus on skipper Virat Kohli whether he wants to continue selecting quality specialist Wriddhiman Saha over the currently struggling young Rishabh Pant. 

"He (Saha) is our own boy... He is the best wicketkeeper in the world. Rishabh has also been very successful. Now, it's a call Kohli has to take, whom he wants to play in the long term," he said. 

The 47-year-old, who was recently re-elected in his position as the president of Cricket Association of Bengal, is also enjoying the start of the festive season with the Durga Puja. 

"When I was very young and not playing cricket, I would spend whole night in Puja pandals. Both my mom and dad would look for me, but I would not be found."

"We had a joint family, so it was not only me, my brother, sisters would spend many nights at Puja pandals. We would sleep there, only to return home in the morning to change our clothes and back again at the pandals. Puja is always very very special," he concluded. 

(Inputs from PTI)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 05 Oct, 2019

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