Success of Mayank Agarwal glorifies the mistake India made in England
Though the Indian team is on the cusp of winning a Test series in Australia for the first time, the success in Australia has further highlighted the mistakes Indian team made in England earlier this year. The worst part is Indian team kept on repeating the same mistakes which cost them dearly in South Africa first and then in England. One can assume that losing the South African series could have given India the wake-up call but that was not to be.
Indian batting barring Kohli failed miserably in South Africa and it was not the failure that was frustrating but the way their deficient techniques were exposed. Indian openers, in particular, were all at sea against quality bowling line-up.
Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul did not seem to have the technique to succeed in testing conditions and there was no visible effort to improve their technique as well. These players were eventually dropped from the Indian Test squad but that came way too late. Their presence in the Indian team cost India two important Test series in England and South Africa and the bottom line is Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay and KL Rahul should have been dropped much earlier.
There were talks of Mayank Agarwal coming into the team midway through the English series but Indian team management did not have the courage to introduce a youngster into the Indian team midway through an overseas Test series. The result was in front of everyone as the Indian top-order kept failing and that put a lot of pressure on the Indian middle-order.
Eventually, the Indian team management bowed to the pressure from the cricketing fraternity and Agarwal was given a chance midway through another testing series in Australia and the way Agarwal has performed in Australia, his success has glorified the mistake Indian team management made in England and one cannot help but think that story might have been different in England if India would have got those good starts in England for the middle order to capitalize on.