Bangladesh wilt in the face of Mayank Agarwal's ruthless restraint

[Torrent Disney]

 

In a recent chat with ESPNcricinfo, Mayank Agarwal said that, at some point a couple of years ago, he had grown tired of getting 20s and 30s. To get better at converting starts, he worked with his coach to break innings down into phases - the start, for instance, or the period once he's settled - and developed patterns for each of them. The transformation into a game suited for huge runs stemmed from that simplistic-sounding solution. But perhaps not even he could have imagined he could, once again, come close to batting as dominantly in Tests as he had during the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy season, in which he famously made 1000 runs in a month.

After just his fifth Test innings at home, Agarwal has three hundreds, two of them double-hundreds, and 583 runs at 116.60. After three fifties overseas without going past the 70s, he's made centuries each time he's reached 50 in this home season. The hardwired ability to convert starts has resurfaced.

"I think it goes down for me at least, to understanding that there have been times where I've not got runs," Agarwal said at his press conference at the end of the second day's play in Indore. "So I must respect the game, that I am batting well. When I am doing that I need to make sure that I make it big and put the team in the driver's seat or put it in such a position that we cannot lose from there.

"So I think that becomes key. Knowing that you are batting well, and you've got your hundred, you've got to make sure - it's on you to take the team ahead."