Mumbai: Karnataka skipper Karun Nair has said that India’s Test opener Mayank Agarwal has worked really hard to achieve success at the international level and his absence from Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy game against Mumbai will open the doors for other youngsters to shine.
“I think Mayank has always been a hard-working cricketer, so I feel it was high time that it paid off,” Nair said here Thursday on the eve of Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy game against Mumbai.
“Mayank is a big player, but it (his absence) opens up an opportunity for someone else to come and grab the chances,” added Nair, who has played six Tests for India and has also scored a triple hundred. However since then he has been plagued by indifferent form and has not been able to cement his place in the national side.
Karnataka will miss the services of Mayank as he is set to leave for New Zealand with the India A team, January 10.
“It is because of the hard work he put in that he (Mayank) is doing well now and I don’t think he has changed much at all. It is just that with the runs that he scored, his confidence also improved and as a batsman, confidence plays such a big role,” pointed out Nair.
Mayank, 28, has played nine Tests so far, scoring 872 runs with three hundreds, including two double centuries, and three fifties to his name.
IANS