Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal had a tremendous domestic season with the bat for Karnataka Ranji side. He scored 1,160 runs in the 2018/18 Ranji Trophy, including a triple century (304*) against Maharashtra, which was also the 50th triple century scored in first-class cricket in India.

In February 2018, he was the leading run-scorer in the 2017/18 Vijay Hazare Trophy with 723 runs in eight matches. He ended the season with 2,141 runs across all formats, the highest total by any batsman in an Indian domestic season. This earned him the Madhavrao Scindia Award for the Highest Run-Scorer in Ranji Trophy by the BCCI.

Such a record might have earned anyone a seat on the plane for the tour to England on the Indian team. But Agarwal was overlooked in favor of tried and tested openers. Now that those tried and tested openers have failed, the team management and BCCI might have to give Agarwal a chance against West Indies.

He had scored 220 against South Africa A, 124 in a List A match against India A and 47 and 80 against Australia A in the recently concluded FC match at Bengaluru. Such prolific scoring should earn Agarwal his due and that due is the Indian Test cap in the upcoming series against West Indies.