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XtraTime Web Desk: ‘Vipassana’ and ‘The Power of Your Subconscious Mind’ by John Murphy changed the fortune of Mayank Agarwal. The Bangalore based Mayank comes from a business background. Like every young Indian kid Mayank too had a fascination for cricket since his childhood days. He came to prominence with his performances in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy in 2008-09 and 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, in which he was the leading run-getter for India.

He had a sudden drop in his form and things started drifting away until he was told by his father to embrace ‘Vipassana’ as a way of life and his performances began improving significantly. While playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2013, Mayank got a book titled ‘The Power of Your Subconscious Mind’ by the team masseur Ramesh Mane. He was enlightened reading the book and felt a sense of inner power. Soon it was reflected in his game.

Mayank’s batting is not about inborn talent like a Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli. It is all about determination and hardwork. He has also worked hard on his fitness, with long-distance running being a part of his training schedule. Mayank’s disciplined approach to his batting and his thought process has brought him success. In the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy season, he scored 1,160 runs, including 304* against Maharashtra. During the 2017-18 season itself, in eight Vijay Hazare Trophy matches, he scored 723 runs. After another good Vijay Hazare Trophy season of 2018-19, he was picked to be in the Indian Test team to play the touring West Indians. He did not get an opportunity though.

Mayank got a huge break when he replaced an injured Prithvi Shaw during the Australia tour in 2018-19.
He grabbed the opportunity with both hands scoring a brilliant 76 runs, opening the batting. It was the highest score by an Indian cricketer on a Test debut in Australia, going past the previous record of 51 runs set by Dattu Phadkar, at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in 1947.

He followed it up with a string of good performances in the five day format. In the first test against South Africa at home in October 2019, Mayank notched up his maiden test ton. He went on to convert this into his first double hundred. He scored 215 runs which included 23 fours and 6 sixes. He followed it up with another hundred in the series, becoming only the 2nd Indian opener after Virender Sehwag (2009-10) to score back to back centuries against South Africa.

In November 2019, Mayank Agarwal hit his second double century in only his eighth Test match, at Indore against Bangladesh, recording his current highest score of 243 in 330 deliveries with eight sixes. He broke the record of Donald Bradman to become the second-fastest batsman to score two double hundreds, having achieved this in 12 innings.
Mayank went on to make his ODI debut against New Zealand in February 2020. The hardworking cricketer is now an integral part of Team India.