Mayank Agarwal had an amazing start to his India career when he made his Test debut against Australia in Melbourne during the 2018-19 tour and scored a brilliant half-century. He then did well at home scoring a Test double century each against South Africa and Bangladesh.
His most recent century came against New Zealand when he made 150 in Wankhede Stadium, but since then he has fallen down the rung when it comes to first-choice openers in the Indian team. He has played 5 ODIs as well but has made only 86 runs.
A dismal IPL 2022 campaign did not help his cause either. But the 31-year-old is determined to stay in contention and do whatever it takes for him to make a comeback to the Indian team.
"I am somebody who isn't going to give up. I am going to keep chasing it and improve my game with each passing day. I will be very happy with whatever comes my way, but my aspirations and dreams never die. It's about going out there, improving and ticking all those boxes,” Mayank Agarwal told ESPNCricinfo.
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In the ongoing Maharaja T20 trophy in Karnataka, Mayank has been in blistering form, scoring 480 runs at a strike rate of 167.24 while leading Bengaluru Blasters. He has averaged an impressive 53.33, having hit two centuries.
"In the last four months, I've really worked hard on my batting. As you can see, I've started sweeping and reverse-sweeping the ball, that too against the fast bowlers," Agarwal said about the work he has put in to improve his limited-overs batting. I've opened up four-five areas in my game that are paying rich dividends. I am very happy that the hard work I put in is paying off now," he added.
"Getting two hundreds in a T20 tournament like the Maharaja Trophy feels amazing. It feels really nice when the players respond to you the way you want. Obviously runs behind my back really makes me feel good and then I can lead from the front," he said.
Bengaluru Blasters reached the final of the Maharaja Trophy, where they will face either Gulbarga Mystics or Mysuru Warriors on Friday.