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Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri played a major role in Mayank Agarwal’s World Cup selection

Dixit Bhargav
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Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri played a major role in Mayank Agarwal's World Cup selection

Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri played a major role: A BCCI source has confirmed the Indian captain and coach wanted Agarwal in Indian side.

Opening batsman Mayank Agarwal getting named in the Indian squad for the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 came as a baffling development for most of us. Indian selectors sending an uncapped player as all-rounder Vijay Shankar’s replacement was too much too fathom in the beginning.

Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri played a major role

A source close to the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has now opened up on the reason behind Agarwal getting a go ahead of other batsmen of the likes of Ambati Rayudu, Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer.

“The team management had made it clear that they wanted Mayank [Agarwal] as replacement for the injured [Vijay] Shankar. There was no question of the selectors debating that,” the source was quoted as saying in an interview with IANS.

The source also highlighted Agarwal’s stellar List A record in the English conditions. Been a regular part of the India A team, the 28-year old has done exceedingly well especially against England A.

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“If you see the record he had during the one-day series against the ‘A’ teams, you will see that he scored 287 runs in four innings with two hundreds. Not to forget his 151 against Leicestershire in the warm-up game. That series was also played in June and July and the general thought is that he is versatile and can adapt well,” the source added.

Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia during the Boxing Day Test last year. Having scored a couple of half-centuries in as many matches, Agarwal had showed a lot of composure at the highest level.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Dixit Bhargav

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Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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