IPL Failure Was One-Off, Insists Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal has said he cannot dwell on his failures in this year’s Indian Premier League. The batsman insisted that the failure was an one-off and so he is not at all bothered.

Agarwal was one of the most prolific run-scorers in the last domestic season. The Karnataka batsman scored a record-breaking 2141 runs across formats in the last season.  He struck five centuries in the Ranji Trophy, three half-centuries in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and three hundreds and four fifties while leading Karnataka to the Vijay Hazare Trophy title.

Not surprisingly, the expectations were sky high from him when Kings XI Punjab snapped him up in this year’s auction. However, the right-handed batsman failed miserably. The 27-year-old managed just 120 runs from 11 innings.

However, Agarwal has said he is quite happy with what he had achieved last season and termed the IPL failure a one-off.

“I just felt that it was just a one-off tournament where I didn’t get runs and I’m quite happy with the way the year has gone by,” Agarwal said on Monday (August 6). “As a batsman, I feel that ‘Yes, it’s a big tournament. It is something big for every player. If I have to see the year on an average, then I have done well in four tournaments out of five. I will happily take that. It’s all about looking at the year as a whole and not just one tournament. Yes, you try learn from every tournament, try and learn from every experience, try and become a better player. That’s what I look to do. But I can’t be too critical of myself.”

Well, Agarwal did not take long to make up for his failures in the IPL. He impressed during the tour of England with India A. He scored three centuries and has continued to pile runs. Earlier this week, he scored 220 against South Africa A in the ongoing four-day match in Bengaluru.

He further spoke on his experience of playing in England.

“It was not the usual English summer, it was quite hot. But you know the ball did move a bit and for a lot of us, it was the first time playing in England and first time playing against the Dukes ball. It did move a bit and it was a great experience for us and a great learning. As Rahul bhai has always said, it’s all about getting new experiences, countering these conditions and learning from them. So I thought it was a great learning experience,” he said.

Agarwal’s run-scoring spree has definitely put him in contention for a place in the national team down the line. But for the time being, the right-handed batsman does not want to think about all the possibilities and just wants to focus on his batting.

“To be really honest, that’s not something on my mind. I think I’m batting well. I’m really happy to be batting well and I just want to keep doing that. Whatever has to happen will happen, I’ve said that before but I’m just really, really happy to be batting well.

“There are so many games that you are playing, so you have to stay in the present. We are playing this, then we are playing the quadrangular and we have a lot of games coming. So it’s all about focusing on the present and on the things in hand rather than focus on other things,” Agarwal said.