India batsman Mayank Agarwal had a splendid day with the bat in Indore on Friday. The right-handed batsman had finished at 37 not out on Day 1 of the first Test against Bangladesh after the Indian bowlers bundled out the visitors for 150. On Day 2, Mayank went on to go past the double-hundred mark to register his 2nd double hundred in the longest format. He looked in splendid form before he was caught while trying to go for a big hit in the deep for 243.
The batsman received a warm applause from the crowd for his performance, while the opposition players came up to him to shake his hands. After the day’s play as India reached 493/6 at stumps with a lead of 343 runs, Mayank was questioned by the reporters about what he does after a day like this.
“On a day like this, what do you do in the evenings in the hotel? Do you go watch the highlights of your innings? Or do you like watching a movie? Or a Netflix show? What do you do? What does Mayank do?,” the reporter asked.
In his reply, Mayank gave a smile and then said: “Mayank plays PUBG.” The cricketer then burst into bouts of laughter along with the rest of the room filled with reporters.
The opening batsman was the key batsman as the hosts took a massive lead in the match. “I think it goes down to understanding that there had been times when I have not got runs. So I must respect the game that I am batting well. When I am doing that I have to make sure that I make it big and put the team in driver’s seat or put it in such a position that they cannot lose from there,” Agarwal said after the second day’s play.
There are players on whom selectors would punt purely on talent and there are some like Agarwal, who had to break the door open with a mountain of runs.
Asked if it makes him more aware that he might always have to score more than say a Prithvi Shaw to be in the mix, Agarwal spoke about how “his journey is different from others.” “I don’t look at it that way. My journey is not going to be same as someone else’s and I don’t like comparing two people’s journey because somebody might get chance quickly and somebody might get chance late,” he said.
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