IND vs NZ | Mayank Agarwal showed resilience and character, says Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli praised opener Mayank Agarwal, saying that he showed resilience and character while scoring 150 runs and 62 runs in the first and second innings respectively in the second Test against New Zealand. Agarwal finished as the highest run-scorer in the series with 242 runs from four innings.
India clinched the two-match Test series against New Zealand by 1-0, winning the second match by 372 runs in Mumbai. For India, Mayank Agarwal was impressive with his batting, scoring 150 runs in the first innings which helped the team score a total of 325. He followed it up with a steady 62 in the second.
He now has 1,294 runs from 16 Tests at an average of 47.92, with four centuries. India captain Virat Kohli praised Agarwal for his performance saying that he showed resilience and character.
“Great application from Mayank. To play at this level for a long period of time, you need resilience, and you need character. And he has certainly shown that. We have all gone through these processes where we have had to make that impact performance at a very crucial stage, and he has done that,” Kohli said.
“More than just feeling easy about himself as a batsman or as an individual, I think what this will do is build his character and help him be consistent for India moving forward.”
Mohammed Siraj, who replaced an unfit Ishant Sharma in Mumbai, was impressive with the ne ball, returning 3/19 in New Zealand's first innings effort of 62 all-out. He now has 33 Test wickets from 10 matches, having excelled on tours of Australia and England earlier this year. Kohli lauded the speedster, who he feels doesn't necessarily rely on conditions.
“He is certainly someone who has a lot of skill and talent. You can see the way he bowls and puts in effort every spell that he bowls. It feels like he can pick you a couple of wickets every spell. That is a great boost for the team,” Kohli said.
“Especially in difficult or challenging situations where there is a partnership there and wickets are not falling. You can rely on a guy like that to bowl three-four rapid overs and make something happen from the pitch. He has skill in his hand. He doesn't really bank on conditions, which can prove to be the difference in winning a Test and drawing it.
“If you look at the Lord's Test, even when the ball stopped swinging later on, he was able to get purchase form the wicket because of the skill he has in his hand and give us those breakthroughs which were very crucial because of the number of overs we had.”
Axar Patel was India's other star performer in the series, excelling with both bat and ball. The all-rounder, who was impressive in his debut series against England at home earlier this year, continued his brilliance with nine wickets and 124 runs in the series.
Kohli stated that if Axar keeps his fitness levels up and continues to work on his game, he has the potential to play for a longer time.
“Axar is an all-round cricketer. His skill sets provide good balance to any team he plays for. Precisely why he has been performing so well in T20 format for so long and in Test cricket as well whenever he is given an opportunity,” Kohli said.
“The good thing to see is he is adapting his game according to the needs of the format, which is a great sign. If he can keep his fitness levels up and if he can keep working on his game, he has potential to play for a long time. That's basically the need of the hour in today's cricket when we play so much cricket. If you can't keep your fitness levels up, it gets more and more difficult.”
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