Mayank Agarwal reveals Rahul Dravid's motivating words to dismiss negative thoughts

Indian cricketer Mayank Agarwal made his international debut at the 2018 Boxing Day Test against Australia. In his maiden innings itself, the right-handed batsman impressed one-and-all with a fluent 76. Since then, Mayank Agarwal has now become a regular feature of the Indian Test line-up and opens the Indian innings at the top with Rohit Sharma. With 974 runs in 17 Test innings, the cricketer averages an impressive 57.29 for India.

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Mayank Agarwal praises former India A coach Rahul Dravid

Prior to his debut in Australia, Mayank Agarwal scored heaps of runs for India A and for Karnataka in Ranji Trophy. The opening batsman recently praised former Indian captain Rahul Dravid, who was coaching India A at the time. While speaking with Sanjay Manjrekar on ESPNCricinfo, Mayank Agarwal said that although he was afraid of not getting picked for India, it was his India A coach Rahul Dravid whose motivational words helped him keep his negative thoughts away.

Mayank Agarwal recalled Rahul Dravid’s message by saying that the great Indian batsman had told him to not worry about selection matters and only focus on playing quality cricket. Agarwal further stated that Dravid encouraged him to keep working hard as the youngster was “as close” as he can get to a national call-up. The Karnataka-based batsman admitted that Rahul Dravid’s talk motivated him to keep going ahead.

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IPL 2020: Mayank Agarwal in Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)

Mayank Agarwal, alongside his Karnataka teammate KL Rahul, are slated to represent KXIP in the much-awaited Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020) season. During the IPL 2020 trading and transfer window in late 2019, the cricketer became one of the 14 players to be retained by the franchise. KXIP retained Agarwal for ₹1 crore ($US132,168).

While the IPL 2020 was slated to commence on March 29, KXIP were scheduled to launch their campaign on March 30 against Delhi Capitals. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has indefinitely postponed the tournament in wake of the ongoing coronavirus crisis and India lockdown. Recent reports suggest that the IPL 2020 may well take place later this year if the T20 World Cup in Australia gets shifted to 2021.

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