Mayank Agarwal

Team India's swashbuckling opener Mayank Agarwal was born on 16th February 1991. He made headlines with his stunning knocks even before making his debut for India. However, his international debut was on 26th December 2018 against Australia at the MCG. He plays for Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League and in domestic cricket, he plays for the Karnataka cricket team as well.

Agarwal did exceptionally well in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy in the 2008-09 and 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup as well, where he was the highest run-getter for India. He also received the Man of the Series award in the Karnataka Premier League in 2010.

When did Mayank Agarwal make his International debut?

He made his Test debut on 26th December 2018 vs Australia whereas his ODI debut came on 29th November 2020 vs Australia as well.

Mayank Agarwal - Domestic Career

In November 2017, he scored his maiden triple hundred in first-class cricket, when he scored an unbeaten 304 while playing for Karnataka against Maharashtra in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy. In the same month, he scored 1,000 runs in first-class cricket as well and he was the highest run-scorer in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy, finishing the tournament with a whopping 1,160 runs as well.

In January 2018, Kings XI Punjab bought him in the 2018 IPL auction. In February 2018, he was the leading run-scorer in the 2017–18 Vijay Hazare Trophy, with 723 runs that came in eight matches only. He scored 2,141 runs across all formats, the highest total by any batsman in an Indian domestic season as well. In June 2018, he received the Madhavrao Scindia Award For The Highest Run-Scorer In Ranji Trophy by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as well.

He was the highest run-scorer for Karnataka in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, with 251 runs in seven matches as well. In October 2018, he was named in India B's squad for the 2018–19 Deodhar Trophy whereas, in October 2019, he was named in India C's squad for the 2019–20 Deodhar Trophy as well.

On 27 September 2020, Mayank Agarwal scored his maiden Indian Premier League century for Kings XI Punjab while playing against Rajasthan Royals in Sharjah Cricket Stadium. He scored 106 off 50 balls in the game but it came for a losing cause. He scored a total of 424 runs in 11 matches for Kings XI Punjab which came at an average of 38.54 in IPL 2020 as well.

However, Agarwal became the 13th captain of the Punjab Kings on 2nd May 2021, when he led the team against Delhi Capitals in the absence of their regular captain KL Rahul. He scored a 99*, which made him the third batsman in the IPL to score an unbeaten 99 not out, and was awarded the Man of the Match award although the team ended up losing the game. And, before the IPL 2022 season, Mayank has been retained by Punjab Kings for a whopping price of INR 12 Crore.

Mayank Agarwal - International Career

In September 2018, he was added to India's Test squad for their series against the West Indies, but he did not get to play. In December 2018, he was named in India's Test squad for their series against Australia, after Prithvi Shaw was ruled out with an ankle injury. And, he made his Test debut against Australia on 26 December 2018, where he scored seventy-six runs in his first innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Notably, this was the highest score by an Indian cricketer on a Test debut in Australia, surpassing the previous record of 51 runs by Dattu Phadkar, at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in 1947 as well. And, he played the 4th test also and finished the series with 195 runs in his name.

In July 2019, he was named in India's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup, replacing Vijay Shankar, who was ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to a toe injury as well. In October 2019, in the first Test match against South Africa, the stunning batsman scored his maiden century in Test cricket and then converted his maiden test century into his first double hundred in a Test match as well, before being dismissed for 215 runs of 371 balls with 23 fours and 6 sixes. After hitting his 2nd Test century against South Africa, Agarwal became only the second Indian opener after Virender Sehwag (2009-10) to score back to back centuries against South Africa as well.

In November 2019, Agarwal hit his second double century in only his eighth Test match, at Indore which came against Bangladesh - 243 off 330 with eight sixes. He broke the record of Donald Bradman to become the second-fastest batsman to score two double hundreds as he had achieved this in 12 innings only. The following month, he was named in India's One Day International (ODI) squad for the series against the West Indies, replacing the injured Shikhar Dhawan. On 19 December 2020, in the first Test against Australia, he smashed his 1,000th run in Test matches, becoming the third-fastest Indian batsman to reach the milestone in Test as well.

Mayank Agarwal, however, scored 857 runs, the fourth-highest by an Indian batsman in the inaugural World Test Championship cycle, but lost his place to Shubman Gill after failing in three matches in Australia as well. He made his comeback in the home series against New Zealand and in the second test match he scored 150 in the First innings and 62 in the second innings for which he was awarded the man of the match as well.