Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has come down hard on opener Mayank Agarwal, who gave away his wicket playing a rash shot in the 3rd Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Mayank once again did the hard work playing 35 deliveries but threw away his wicket playing a ball away from his body.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, KL Rahul and Mayank did the hard work seeing off the first 10 overs. But the Proteas pacers kept coming hard at the Indian openers. Duanne Olivier got the better of Rahul before Kagiso Rabada dismissed Mayank Agarwal.
Mayank was dropped on 0, scored 15 before he edged Kagiso Rabada to second slip, where Aiden Markram completed an easy catch. Sunil Gavaskar questioned Agarwal’s shot selection, saying that although the latter looks amazing while middling the ball, the India opener appears a bit vulnerable against the moving ball.
While speaking on air for Star Sports, the veteran said:
“Agarwal is a very good player when the ball is hitting the middle of the bat, for the simple reason that he’s got that lovely little push but when the ball moves a little bit, that bat speed gets him into trouble. We have seen that edge when he was on 0, that would have been a terrific catch. Look at that… see how hard he has pushed at the ball.”
Gavaskar continued:
“Really if the bat and pad were together, he would have played and missed it. But because he went for it… he has gone for the ball… and in Test cricket there is an aspect of leaving the ball. Leave it as much as you can in the first hour. Just look where the bat has gone. Had it been close to the pad, he would have been fine.”
“It has got to be the mental adjustment” – Sunil Gavaskar on playing three formats
The 72-year-old further added that batters need to make mental adjustments to be successful across all three formats.
“To a great extent yes, but then it has got to be the mental adjustment more than anything else. Don’t you make mental adjustments from Test to 50-overs to T20 cricket? That is what needs to be done,” Gavaskar pointed out.
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