Agarwal’s Hazare runs add weight for India selection

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 24

Karnataka run-machine Mayank Agarwal seems unstoppable. After a stellar Ranji Trophy season, in which the opener aggregated 1,160 runs in seven matches, Agarwal on Saturday became the highest-ever scorer in one season of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Agarwal, who now has a tally of 663 runs from seven innings, went past Dinesh Karthik’s record of 607 runs, which he had amassed last year.

But on a day when he should have been happy, the opener was cross because he was dismissed when Karnataka needed only six more runs to win. “It is quite hurtful. Obviously a not out does a lot of good but then I will have to live with it,” he said.

Agarwal scored 81 in a 155-run partnership with skipper Karun Nair as Karnataka rolled over Maharashtra in the semifinals to enter the final. Nair finished unbeaten on 70 as his team registered a nine-wicket win.

The win gives the 27-year-old Agarwal another match to add to his already impressive tally. “This is a team game and for me it is all about winning. If we win more trophies, that will be the best thing for me,” Agarwal said of his new record.

Pressed further, he added: “It is a great feeling. But to be honest, it is a better feeling as these runs have contributed to Karnataka’s win.”

After topping the Ranji Trophy charts with 1,160 runs with an average of 105.45, Agarwal had an equally effective aggregate of 258 runs in nine matches in the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament.

He continued this form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in which he is averaging 90.42 in seven innings. This seamless transition from first-class cricket to T20 and then 50-over cricket has caught the selectors’ attention. The buzz is that he will get a look-in during the T20 tri-series in Sri Lanka. Agarwal said his run-making was down to the fact that he understands his role in the Karnataka team well.

“To be honest, I think I am in the zone. I am in a good mind-space and I want to stay there,” he said. “I am not thinking or trying too much. I am respectful of the fact that I am batting well. I am just going out there and doing what I have been doing and want to continue to do so for as long as I can.”

‘Not thinking about selection’

Agarwal added that he wasn’t thinking about the Sri Lanka tour: “I have said it before, that it (selection) is not in our hands to decide and being a spiritual person, I’ll leave it to God... He knows what is best for us.”

Brief Scores: Maharashtra: 160 in 44.3 overs (S Mundhe 50; K Gowtham 3/26); Karnataka: 164/1 in 30.3 overs (M Agarwal 81, K Nair 70*).