Published By: Saksham Mishra

Mayank Agarwal, an underrated T20 opener

Mayank Agrawal has been overshadowed by KL Rahul at Punjab Kings but he has continued to produce the goods. KL Rahul making 626 runs at 62.60 has been noticed by almost everybody in the cricketing fraternity but Mayank Agrawal's efforts have gone unnoticed. Agarwal finished IPL 2021 as the second highest run scorer for Punjab Kings with 441 runs from 12 matches at an average of over 40 and a strike rate in excess of 140.

Belonging to the same state of Karnataka, Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul have played a lot of cricket with each other over the years. Interestingly, KL Rahul was the one to be dropped when Agarwal made his test debut against Australia. Rahul has just taken back his spot from Agarwal at the top of the order in test cricket.

In the IPL though, both open the batting together for Punjab Kings and have an exceptional record. It's another matter that the Punjab middle order batsmen have failed to back up their efforts as Punjab have continued to struggle for no fault of Mayank Agarwal who has continued to be consistent over the years.

In the limited opportunities that he got in white ball cricket for India as well, Agarwal did a decent job.

In fact, when Agarwal was made the captain of Punjab Kings in the absence of KL Rahul who had to move out of the bubble in the first installment of IPL 2021 to get his appendicitis treated, he had an instant impact within 99 not out which almost took Punjab to victory.

"Would've liked two points but we were ten short on that wicket and for the kind of PowerPlay they had, we had to really scramble there. One batsman had to bat through and that was the plan, it was my day and I tried to get as many as we can but didn't get as many in the middle overs but at least ended well. We have to shut this off and turn up next game and put our best foot forward, figure out ways to get those two points."

"Kudos to Harpreet, the way he turned up and also hit a crucial boundary, he's bowling exceedingly well. It's about doing well as a unit, hopefully we will do well in the next game," Player of the match and Punjab Kings stand-in captain Agarwal had said after losing another close encounter.