Mayank Agarwal disappointed despite hitting match-winning knock against South Africa
Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal who top scored for India A in the one-off T20 warm-up fixture against South Africa with a brilliant 49-ball 87 that helped the hosts beat South Africa by eight wickets said that he was highly disappointed that he could not stay till the end and finish off the game, reported IBNlive.com.
Agarwal, who turned out for Royal Challengers Bangalore and later Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League said that it was a pleasant surprise to beat South Africa in the T20 warm-up game. The Karnataka lad showed his big hitting skills as India A rode on the 119-run opening wicket partnership between Agarwal and Manan Vohra (58) to chase down the target of 189 with two balls to spare.
Agarwal who has cemented his place in the Karnataka Ranji team felt he should have stayed on till the end and finished the job at hand.
"I was disappointed. I wanted to stay till the end. It is every player's dream to stay at the crease and take his team to victory. But when I lost my wicket with the team some runs short of the victory, I felt dejected,” said the 24-year-old opener.
Mayank went on to add that the victory was a result of the team planning to stick to the basics and he was delighted that they paid off well.
"Ahead of the game, we planned just three things - keeping it simple, play as many cricketing strokes and build partnerships. That worked out," the Karnataka opener said.
Agarwal, who scored an astounding 409 runs in five innings for India A in the tri-series which included Australia A and South Africa A, earning him the Man of the Series award which was won by India A, said that he was looking forward to performing better in the upcoming Ranji campaign and score big runs whenever the opportunity rises.
"For me, it is important to score runs in whatever opportunities I get. It doesn't matter whether you are playing T20, four-day format, ODI or a Test match. If you have got an opportunity, then you should go and try getting as many runs for the team," said Mayank while talking about his performances and scoring runs in any format.
When asked about his dreams of donning the Indian colours in International cricket, he said that it was every youngsters dream to represent their country and he would rather make his performances do the talking, "My job is to perform and score runs. [National] Selection is not in my hands. Yes, like every youngster, my dream is also to represent the country."