Vinay Kumar is the man behind the success of Mayank Agarwal, says Robin Uthappa

Mayank Agarwal has created a buzz in India after scoring the maiden century that he later converted into his first double ton in international cricket. The youngster from Karnataka made his debut against Australia in 2018 where he got 75 in his first inning. It looked like India has found a new opener, who can serve for a long time on the opening position and now by playing a remarkable knock against Proteas, he has proved it right.

Although it was never easy for him to make his way into the national squad for the 28-year-old batsman. During his first-class career, there was a time when he was on the verge of getting dropped from the Ranji Team of Karnataka, but it was India’s bowler that backed the top-order batsman which has led him to bring consistency in his game and today he has become the first choice opener for selectors in Tests. And Robin Uthappa has given the credit to Vinay Kumar for the success of Mayank Agarwal.

Karnataka batsman revealed something interesting about Mayank Agarwal  

Uthappa feels that there was a time in 2017 when Mayank was struggling with poor form but it was Vinay Kumar who was the captain of the team sat down with Agarwal and had motivated his teammate which helped Indian opener in triggering his form back, “I remember we contemplated dropping him from a Ranji game but when (captain) R Vinay Kumar gave him a push (motivational words), he scored a triple hundred and did not look back from there,” Uthappa said as quoted by Sportstar.

He also expressed over the thoughts of comparison between Rohit Sharma and Virender Sehwag in Tests. Uthappa thinks that both the cricketers are totally different from each other. Sehwag used to dismantle the bowling line up with his aggressive game but the batsman from Mumbai plays with some care, “Viru pa would demolish the ball while Rohit caresses it. The way they go about dealing with bowlers is vastly different but the aggressive nature is the common factor,” Robin added.

India is currently battling out against South Africa in the first Test match at Vishakhapatnam. Indian openers have sincerely kept the team on the driving seat. Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma did a partnership of 317 runs for the first wicket, after which India remained successful in posting a mammoth total of 502/7.