He has successfully sealed his place in India Test squad. But he probably has to wait for the limited overcall. He is Mayank Agarwal. A BCCI source has claimed that the IPL will be Mayank’s platform to send his message to the selectors.
An anonymous source has revealed to the Times of India that Mayank Agarwal, despite piling up runs in the longer format is nowhere in the scene for the limited over cricket. The source explained, “Where is the space in the opening department in the limited-overs team? Rohit (Sharma) and Shikhar (Dhawan) are your established openers. There’s no slot at the top for even someone like KL Rahul now. Virat (Kohli) will come back into the team as well. Players can go through ups and downs. Mayank can only come in only if Rohit or Shikhar want to take rest, but he won’t be rushed into the T20 side.”
Mayank was initially called up as a replacement for an injured Prithvi Shaw. Then he kept on proving himself in every opportunity he came across. He scored two double centuries in just eight Test matches and also helped Karnataka win this year’s Vijay Hazare Trophy. But all these are not enough to wear the blue jersey yet. He became a part of India’s World Cup campaign this year after Vijay Shankar was injured. His 13 centuries in List A cricket, an average of 50.90, and a strike rate above 101 speak of his volume. But the source believes that to represent India in the limited over format, Mayank has to score a lot of runs in the coming edition of the Indian Premier League and that too consistently.
“Let him score runs in the IPL. Firstly, he has to be played consistently by his franchise,” the official added.