New Zealand vs India 2020: Mayank Agarwal not fazed by poor run of form

Mayank Agarwal has been in New Zealand for quite some time now. He arrived with the India A team initially but was called up to the Indian ODI squad because of the injury to Rohit Sharma. While Agarwal struggled in the matches he played for the A team, he failed to register any big scores to his name in the three One Day Internationals he played for India as well.

Agarwal is not too fazed by his failures on the New Zealand tour so far. The 29-year old right-hander is taking a lot of confidence from his knock of 81 in the second innings of the warm-up match against New Zealand XI at Seddon Park.

“It’s been a little different playing here, but I want to leave all that behind. Whatever has happened has happened. Yes I got an 81 in the second innings of this practice game and I want to take this confidence forward into the Test match.” Agarwal said while speaking to the reporters at the conclusion of the warm-up match.

Despite his poor form, there were never any question marks over Agarwal’s place in India’s playing XI for the first Test match in Wellington, however, there have been talks about the suitability of his technique against the moving ball.

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Agarwal has scored heavily for India in Test match cricket so far, but most of his runs have come in Australia and India where the ball doesn’t swing or seam much. In Australia, it’s more about bounce, while in India, it’s more about spin.

In New Zealand, the conditions are quite different as the ball not only swings in the air there, it seams off the deck as well. Agarwal’s tendency of playing away from his body might turn out to be problematic for him in the upcoming Test series.