How Mayank Agarwal countered South Africa's best-laid plans

[Torrent Disney]

Mayank Agarwal had played four Tests before South Africa met him for the first time. Even if they hadn't spent as much time planning against him as they might have for, say, Cheteshwar Pujara or Virat Kohli, they would have arrived in India with a fair idea of how to bowl to him.

During the first two Tests in Visakhapatnam and Pune, some of those plans have been evident, and there have been moments when they have threatened to get his wicket. And yet, here we are, three innings into the series: 330 runs, two hundreds, an average of 110.00.

There was a fair amount of grass on the first-day pitch in Pune, and the fast bowlers could extract a bit of seam movement and bounce right through the first session, and sporadically thereafter. South Africa had three quicks in their attack, and each of them tested Agarwal early, homing in on the same technical issue: his tendency to get closed off with his front-and-across trigger movement.

It's a good position to get into against the full ball outside off stump, and quite naturally he's an excellent driver through the off side, whether it's the straight-bat punch, where his power comes from his front-foot weight transfer, or that whippy drive with the bottom-hand flourish. It's also a good springboard for the square-cut, helping keep the batsman side-on and in the ideal position to slap away at any width.

Agarwal was quick to pounce on any opportunities to play these shots, and 36 of his 63 runs against pace came via the cover drive, the cut and the off drive