India vs West Indies | India selection is a special moment for me and my family, reveals Mayank Agarwal

Karnataka cricketer Mayank Agarwal has been knocking the doors of the Indian cricket team for a long time. Agarwal was the leading run-scorer in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy as he finished the tournament with 1,160 runs. Hence, there was some sort of public backlash when he was overlooked for the recent Asia Cup campaign. His ultimate wish was finally fulfilled as he received his first call-up to the Indian team for the upcoming two-match Test series against West Indies which will start on October 4 and he stated that it was a special moment, both for him and his extended family.

"My family was extremely happy. When I got the news, I was extremely happy. I was here in my room, I spoke to my family, they were just too happy. It's a special moment for us and I am really happy that we could share it," Mayank recollects. "I spoke to my mum, dad, grandfather, grandmother, my wife, elder brother, bhabhi (sister-in-law), all of them, all were thrilled, some very good moments on the phone.

"We were playing a lot of India A games and I am glad that we are doing that - it helps us, to be playing in different conditions - it keeps your mind occupied. It was like waking up next day trying to win a game, as professionals, we are trained to do that and we look forward to it. Obviously, yes, I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it but yes, I have my ways of keeping out of it. And at the end of it, whatever has to happen will happen, right? I have said that before, me thinking about it or doing something about it is not going to change anything," Agarwal told Cricbuzz.

The 27-year old also scored twin hundreds on the England tour for the India A team, double hundred against South Africa A, and a hundred and a fifty in the Quadrangular Series last month as well. However, if we go back a few months to this year’s IPL, Agarwal failed to live up to the high expectations after he was picked up by the Kings XI Punjab franchise. But the lad from Karnataka brushed aside his IPL performance and hoped to make the most of the opportunity at hand.

"IPL is a big, big platform. Doing well in an IPL obviously makes a big difference. I felt that I let myself down. Should have got runs but then post the IPL when I sat down and thought about it and looked back at the two months, I said that, okay, I have had a bad IPL but also I have got good learnings from it. Then I told myself that I wouldn't look at just one tournament at a time, yes two months weren't the best but it was good in terms of learning experiences.

"I never thought, "will it undo?" But I was very disappointed that the performances didn't come. I didn't want to narrow it down to one thing, if I had to look at it in one full year, in one full calendar year, if you have done well in four of the five, I think you should be a happy man," Agarwal added.