Mayank Agarwal Went Into The Self-Doubt Mode After Australia Tour, Reveals His Childhood Coach

Indian Test opener Mayank Agarwal endured a forgettable tour of Australia as he could manage only 78 runs in three Tests. Though Mayank Agarwal started his career brilliantly and was once amongst the top ten batsmen in the longest format, he is no longer in the side. The Karnataka-born opener’s childhood coach has revealed that Mayank started doubting himself after being ignored.

Though Mayank Agarwal has earned a selection in India’s 20-man squad to tour England next month, Shubman Gill has pipped him in the pecking order. Shubman Gill’s exploits in Australia and despite suffering a lean series against England at home, the youngster is likely to retain his spot as an opener alongside Rohit Sharma. On the other hand, Mayank has managed only 88 runs in his last eight Test innings and is likely to stay on the sidelines at least for the initial part of the tour, which contains the ICC World Test Championship final and five Tests against England.

RX Murali underlined that the mind plays a massive role as it began creating doubts when things start falling apart. Murali said that any player loses out on the mental process that once gets created and it reaches a mode of self-doubt – something that encapsulated Mayank Agarwal.

“It’s all about the mindset. You suddenly start creating doubts in your mind when it doesn’t match up. It takes you to a different spin altogether and you completely lose out on the mental process that you once created. It takes you to a mode when you start doubting everything. That’s what happened with Mayank,” Murali told Inside Sport.

After the Australia series, Mayank Agarwal worked on the mental aspect and did well in IPL: Coach RX Murali

RX Murali further commented that sportspersons always have anxiety as there are more failures than success, while increasing competition only magnifies the feeling. Murali added that the worry keeps on piling failures one after the other. He highlighted that Mayank began working on the mental aspect after the Australian tour and performed in IPL. Murali also feels that performances in IPL indeed helped his case as his confidence received a massive boost. The right-handed batsman ended the shortened tournament of this year with 260 runs in seven games at 43.3, maintaining a strike rate of 141.3.

“There is a lot of anxiety in a sportsperson. In sports, there are more failures than success. When you are anxious about failing and know that there is a lot of competition and if you don’t perform, you are out, that adds up more. One failure adds up to worry and that gets bigger and bigger and you completely lose out on the process. After the Australia series, he worked on the mental aspect and did well in IPL. He already has the technique. All he needs is confidence. IPL performances definitely boosted his confidence massively. Before IPL, we worked on the mental aspects and it succeeded in the tournament. It gave him the template to work on as it is a continuous process,” he claimed further.

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