Was having a hair-cut when I got India World Cup call-up: Mayank Agarwal

Scoring runs at a haemorrhaging rate at the domestic circuit has finally started to pay dividends for the talented Mayank Agarwal. Last year, the 28-year-old got into the Indian team for the tour of Australia, replacing Prithvi Shaw, who was ruled out due to an ankle injury. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands, scoring 195 runs at an average of 65 with a couple of half-centuries.

After a few months, Agarwal has more reasons to cheer as he has been picked to play in the 2019 World Cup. The Karnataka-born batsman was roped in as a replacement of all-rounder Vijay Shankar, who has been ruled out owing to a toe injury. The swashbuckling right-handed batter joined the national team ahead of its last league match against Sri Lanka on July 6 at the Headingley in Leeds.

Recently, Mayank Agarwal revealed that he got the World Cup call-up when he was having a hair-cut. Prior to that, he was picked to play for India A in the tour of West Indies. “I found out the news that I had to join the team when I was having a hair-cut. It’s a great feeling to be part of the Indian team that is playing the World Cup,” Agarwal was quoted as saying in News 18.

I worked a lot on my strength training

Mayank Agarwal also had a decent stint in the cash-rich and prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL). In the T20 extravaganza, Mayank represented the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and played under the leadership of India’s Test specialist Ravichandran Ashwin.

“I took about a week, week-and-a-half’s break after the IPL. I made sure that I still practice and train five days a week. We can really use the off-season to train really hard and work on the things that I need to add to my armoury,” he mentioned.

“I worked a lot on my strength training and since I was preparing for the ‘A’ tour of West Indies, closer to that I started to do a lot of power-training and added a lot of running. It’s good to have a little time off when I can on my strength,” he added.