RX Murali: Mayank Agarwal was under pressure

On his Test debut back in 2018 opener Mayank Agarwal 30 played a crucial role in Indiarsquos 137run triumph scoring 76 and 42 during against Australia at MelbourneSince then however excluding the ongoing Mumbai Test he has represented the country in just 15 matches scoring 1082 runs that includes three centuriesIn the ongoing series too he got a chance to open against New Zealand the innings in the Kanpur Test last week only because regular openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul were not part of the squadHe managed just 13 and 17 in the drawn encounter Given these scores and the fact that he has not established himself as a regular Test opener yet Agarwal was under a lot of pressure going into the Mumbai Test revealed his coach RX MuraliTough competitionldquoMayank was under pressure as he had not been getting enough opportunities He knew that this was the time for him to capitalise on it as the regular openers are not there He was well aware of that and determined to make good use of the opportunity as there is enough competition in the teamrdquo Murali told midday from BangaloreRX MuraliAlso Read Punjab Kings Another franchise approaching KL Rahul would be unethicalAgarwal grabbed the opportunity with both hands scoring 150 in the first innings and followed it up with 62 in the second essay at the Wankhede on Sunday Murali explained how he worked on Agarwalrsquos mindset and approach as he prepared for the NZ seriesldquoWe were waiting for the opportunity and when it presented itself we knew we could do well only if we prepared hard So our entire preparation was like that If you are out of the team the next preparation is to get that break again and when you get it then itrsquos about how you can make it bigrdquo added MuraliTeam India have a good lineup of opening batsmen that Rohit Rahul Prithvi Shaw Agarwal and Shubman Gill There is stiff competition for that position so Murali felt that everyone needs to raise the barConsistency mattersldquoIt is like Charles Darwinrsquos theorymdashSurvival of the Fittest For cricketers Darwinrsquos theory is slightly altered Itrsquos about the survival of the performer So everybody is pushed now Your best comes out when you are on the brink of your comfort zone Everybody is under pressure now whoever it is because consistency is the name of the game The moment somebody starts showing more consistency everybody else has to raise the bar now This can only be good for Indian cricketrdquo explained MuraliAlso Read Dhoni Kohli Rohit Sharma among those retained Hardik KL Rahul released