Duleep Trophy Was The Changing Point: Abhinav Mukund
Feb 3, 2017 at 6:32 PM
Having made his Test debut against the West Indies after the World Cup 2011, Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund has been roped in as the specialist batsman in India’s squad against Bangladesh after a gap of five years. Calling his return as unsurprising, Mukund said it was last years Duleep Trophy which turned the tables around for him.
The left-handed opener from Tamil Nadu was in some form during Duleep Trophy, having scored 77 and 169 in both the innings and that too against the Pink Ball. For his native state in the 2016/17 Ranji Trophy, Mukund scored 849 runs in 10 matches at an average of 65.30. His four centuries were enough to put weight on his performance.
Speaking to Scroll.in, Mukund revealed he didn’t even realize the meeting for the selection of squad was happening on Tuesday.
The opener had a relatively poor outing in the domestic season prior to the current one, and said he did a lot more than the usual work to put himself in a good mindset. He further said he looked into the lost plots of game and tried to find a more steady approach heading into the tournament.
“I wanted to put myself in a really good space, so in the off season I wanted to check all boxes, like the mental side of things. I thought I wasn’t as fit as I could be, so I worked hard at it. Technically I haven’t changed anything as such. I’m batting the same way. I wanted to be more consistent and bring back the hunger for scoring big hundreds.”
Mukund was blunt in accepting that it was the Duleep Trophy which helped him find his mojo back and from their he gained the momentum towards making it into the Indian team. He said he wasn’t desperate for a place and rather kept his focus playing freely, which eventually fetched him the desire result.
He further added that losing weight helped him a bit too.
“The Duleep Trophy was the turning point. I wasn’t desperate to prove a point, but I just focused on playing my natural game.”
India will face Bangladesh in a one-off Test match in Hyderabad, starting February 9.