Mayank Agarwal - more than a success story; an inspiration

Yes, in a Test that was built around his new-found partner, on a day that was supposed to belong to Rohit Sharma, it was Mayank Agarwal who eventually walked away with all the honours towards the end, much to everyone’s - including himself - surprise. Exactly about two years ago, he’d been doing the same for his state side Karnataka day in and day out, piling on the runs as if it were his only mode of survival. 

Then, Mayank was on a mission to prove himself, more than anybody, that it was possible to put the demons of the past behind, bury his reputation, start afresh and sculpt a completely new version of himself, so much so that the whole world would come to a standstill and take notice of his efforts. 

Two years on, the stage might be different, but it is the same old (new) Mayank; a man who eats runs for breakfast, lunch and dinner and has wired his body and mind to such an extent that he thrives on success and like an unsatisfied gamer trying to breach new levels, keeps respawning where he left off till the eventual goal is reached. But unlike video games, in cricket, there are no limits to the heights that can be scaled and Mayank, for one, seems to be on a mission to see how many levels he can pass before he encounters a dead end. 

By the time he was 20, Mayank had an IPL contract to his name and was opening with Chris Gayle. In a time where the IPL gala was peaking, a young boy from Karnataka had fans glued to the television with his flamboyant and flashy strokeplay to an extent that in a team consisting of Gayle, AB de Villiers, Tilakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli, it was Mayank who would often walk away with the “Glam shot of the match” award. 

But the very same strokeplay that elevated him to the very top soon became his Achilles heel. Mayank suffered from the “Swank Syndrome”, a condition where a batsman would nonchalantly make his way to the 20s and 30s and then throw his wicket away. In other words, he was like a luxury car that would go to 0-100 in no time but would end up returning a mileage in single digits; glamorous, enthralling and great for spectatorship, but doesn’t really serve a purpose in day-to-day life. 

At 26 years of age, time was running out for Mayank. The kid who took the spectators’ breath away at 20 hadn’t progressed or improved, his reputation had taken a hit and he was coming on the back of two IPL seasons where he’d combinedly averaged 8.83 and a Ranji season where he’d averaged a dismal 23.66. His tale, his career followed the same inauspicious path that had beckoned many a youngster in the past - especially the ones who had an IPL contract - and it looked inevitable that his career was going to end the same way as the zillions of cricketers who preceded him.

Most, many, would have given up. Some would have been content with lucrative IPL contracts and sponsorship deals, but not Mayank. He hit the reset button at the right time, toiled hard behind the scenes and slowly started building a newer, better version of himself, a repackage of sorts. But when the moment - the 2017 domestic season - arrived, deja vu beckoned him. Scores of 31, 0 and 0 in the first two matches of the season and once again, he was back to square one. 

However, despite the failures, despite the lack of runs, Mayank knew that success and salvation were somewhere around the corner. He stayed patient, stuck to his guns, strived and persevered for what he wanted to achieve. Eventually, he reaped rewards: the month of November 2017 saw him amass an astonishing 1003 runs. He ended the season as the highest run-getter of both the Ranji Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy and started sending shockwaves around the country.

By April 2018, he’d put the ball in the selectors’ court. A national call-up seemed inevitable, but he was never summoned upon, despite the Indian openers visibly struggling. A call-up finally arrived in October, but once again, he was overlooked for young Prithvi Shaw. While his non-selection bewildered experts and sparked outrage, Mayank remained unruffled; no hate comments, no controversy and all he did was stick to his mantra. 

From ‘A’ tours to domestic games, he kept piling on the runs. Soon, Agarwal became a bald patch on the selectors’ heads; you can do a comb-over, you can try to hide it and even ignore it, but it will never go away and eventually, emerge to the extent that you need to embrace it. 

It took three out-of-form openers and an injury to a rookie for the selectors to summon upon Mayank but once they did, he made sure to seize his chance. Boxing day Test opening with another rookie psuedo-opener with the series on the line? No problem. He went about his business in his very own way, just like how he’d played against the “canteen” bowlers in Ranji Trophy, keeping the Aussie bowlers at the mercy of his sword.   

Now, 10 months into his international career, the Karnataka man is unrecognizable from his younger self. He is no more a luxury car that serves no purpose, but a Prime Sedan that you can rely on to drive you across states and cities. Mayank’s calm demeanour, his apathy to attention and stardom, his irrefragable work ethic and his clarity in understanding his own game makes him stand apart from every other cricketer in the country. His 215 today speaks less about Mayank the batsman and volumes about his transformation, who he has become as a person and where he stands in the bigger scheme of things. 

His turnaround - his success story - is an inspiration, not just for cricketers in India, but for every single one around the world. He has proved that through sheer hard work, peerless self-belief and unimpeded view of where you want yourself to stand in the future, it is possible to erase the past, start afresh and make your way to the very top, no matter what stands in front. For Mayank, every locked door is an opportunity to smash it open and in the years to come, it would definitely be interesting to see at what level in the game he eventually stops, if he ever decides to do so.