It Will Be Too Early To Judge Mayank Agarwal – Sourav Ganguly
Oct 5, 2019 at 4:59 PM
Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly believes it will be a tad too early to judge the early success of Mayank Agarwal. The Karnataka batsman has had a fine start to his Test career but Ganguly doesn’t want to go gaga for the rookie batsman. Ganguly stated that he will judge Mayank Agarwal after he will complete one year of International career.
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The right-hander has had a dream start to his Test career as he was able to hit the ground running in Australia. Agarwal had scored a fine fifty while making his debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Agarwal has had a dream start to his Test career.
However, the right-hander didn’t have the best of the West Indies tour. Subsequently, Agarwal was able to turn the tables as he scored a sublime double-century against South Africa in the ongoing first Test match. It was Agarwal’s maiden hundred and he was able to convert it into a double century.
“The problem is we come to conclusions very quickly. With one hundred we will say he’s your first choice opener and so on. But with a couple of failures, you would say otherwise. This has to stop,” Ganguly told PTI in an interview on the sidelines of a Durga Puja pandal visit at Maddox Square. “Any young player who is doing well is a very good sign for Indian cricket. He played well in Australia. He struggled a bit in the West Indies. But in the first Test at home, he’s got a double against South Africa. Let him play for a year or so then we will judge how good he is.”
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma was able to grab his opportunity with both hands as he scored a fine knock of 176 runs. Ganguly believes the veteran batsman needs to be consistent as he can make a lot of difference.
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“It’s the same thing for Rohit Sharma — he has to perform consistently (like Mayank). It’s just the first Test match for him as an opener. He (Rohit) is a fantastic player and hopefully he continues to play well because Rohit Sharma in the form will strengthen Indian batting,” he said.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli went with Wriddhiman Saha in place of Rishabh Pant for the first Test match. Kohli had stated that Saha is preferred because of better wicketkeeping skills.
“He (Saha) is our own boy… He is the best wicketkeeper in the world. Rishabh has also been very successful. Now, it’s a call Kohli has to take, whom he wants to play in the long term,” said the former skipper.
South Africa still trail by 117 runs and they have two wickets in the bank. Thus, India will look to wrap up the Proteas innings as soon as possible on the penultimate day of the Test match.