Mayank Agarwal: Maneuvering the minefield of mindset

Mayank Agarwal opens up about lessons learnt, techniques tackled and his philosophy of cricket

As someone who is there and thereabouts, a deep dive into Mayank Agarwal's psyche sheds light on the rather complex world of competitive cricket. Fortunately, the 31-year-old has done enough work on himself over the years to coherently put to words the emotions and the insecurities which come with being a premier athlete in a dog-eat-dog world.

The Indian opener, who is with the Karnataka side in Ranji Trophy at the moment and on the threshold of another Indian Premier League season with Punjab Kings, opened up about lessons learnt, techniques tackled and his philosophy of cricket. Excerpts:

Q: Are you still as obsessed with your technique as you used to be when you were coming up?

A: I was that guy, I am not that guy anymore because I have come to realise and understand that technique is only one part of the game, but it is not the be all and end all for a batter.

Q: What supersedes technique?

A: Mindset definitely supersedes technique. If you’re not in the right frame of mind, you can have the best technique and it’s still not going to work out. That’s what I have learnt from my experience. The other thing is awareness, awareness of what you can do and what you can’t do, and then having the mental discipline to stick to what you can do. For me, that plays a major role in batting.

Q: Isn’t that limiting in some way?

A: You are (limiting yourself), in a sense. As a player, you come to realise that you cannot be great at everything, you cannot have everything. You are going to have certain strengths, and with each technique or with each every type of change in that, there are going to be drawbacks. Being aware of what you can do and can’t do is exactly that. It’s understanding your game, understanding what you’re strong at, what you’re not good at and finding a way to negotiate what you’re not good at. You can’t just take what you’re not good at and make it your strength. If you do that, you’re always going to be chasing.

If you have a good understanding of your game and your technique. If you have that understanding that it does limit you, but if you understand that, then you’re not going to break your head about it. You won’t harp on it. You learn to manage and work with it.

Q: In that sense, is your toes pointing up on the drive a technique issue? Is that even detrimental?

A: It is something that I am working on. I would say it’s detrimental because your head is not over the ball and you’re kind of late on the ball. Your head is behind and you’re not really on top, you’re actually taking a bigger risk with the same shot (the drive). It is work in progress. But the truth is that the toes pointing up is a symptom of something else. Just like a fever is hardly ever the problem, it’s only a symptom. It has gotten better but I am still working on it.

Q: Oddly enough, your idol - Virender Sehwag - did something similar…

A: (laughs) See, I have enjoyed watching him bat but I have never moulded myself to bat like him. Many people have perceived it to be the case but it’s far from the truth. He is one of one. I have always enjoyed watching him bat and I have picked his brain each time I have had the chance to meet him. I have asked him about his mindset, his rationale…

Q: VVS (Laxman) recently noted that you have worked on your self-belief and you have begun to express yourself better as a result. Is that true?

A: He’s spot-on in his assessment. Confidence plays a major role, self-belief plays a major factor. You’re not always going to be on top of things, you won’t always have the upper hand, things won’t always fall in place always. You just have to be confident with whatever you have, you have to believe that what you have is good enough. You have to find ways to believe that. That’s the point I was trying to make about awareness.

When you’re in that space, you understand how to react when you’re under pressure or how to respond when things aren’t going our way. You get a sense of awareness about your own game and then it becomes easier to handle that. When you play sport, you get to learn a lot about yourself. Sport does throw all life's challenges at you. It teaches you a lot about yourself. Hence, being aware of yourself and what you have around plays an important role.

Q: Is it a matter of pride that you are part of a rich legacy of Karnataka cricket? Also, why are there so many quality cricketers coming through from here?

A: It feels great to be part of such a legacy, it feels great to be among the few players who have had the chance to represent Karnataka. We have produced some legends of the game and it definitely feels amazing to be one among those cricketers.

As for why we generate so many talented cricketers, I think legacy has a part to play. We also have a fantastic league system. I would also say, we have a knack of doing it. There is also a lot of healthy competition within the state. With that, we all help each other grow.

Q: How do you tackle the competition you face playing for Karnataka, India or even Punjab Kings?

A: When you are playing a sport like cricket in a country like India, there is going to be pressure. That’s what you sign up for as a kid. You sign up for the dream where you want to represent the country, but you understand as you grow old that you also have to face that pressure. After a while, though, you understand that you’re privileged. I am so grateful for this opportunity. Pressure is just a byproduct.

As for the competition, I don’t look around and think of the competition. I look around and say I am not competing against my boys. See, when I am playing for Karnataka, it’s not competition with my team-mates, we are competing as team-mates against another state. With India, we are playing for India against another country. The competition is not inside, it’s against other teams. The culture in all these teams is about helping players get better.

Q: South Africa…

A: If I have to judge myself, I thought I batted well on most occasions. I got a lot of starts, I got a 60 as well, and I would have liked to convert them. I would like to convert them into winning contributions for the side. With that said, there were things that I learnt from the tour. I also got feedback from others who said I was batting really well. When you have a tour like that, you have the time to reflect on the things. You work on the things you want to improve. It definitely pinches when the performances don’t come, but that’s just how sport goes. In cricket, you fail more often than you succeed which is why on your good days you make sure you put in those big performances. On other days, you try to chip in and try to play the supporting role. You have to try and leave failures behind. You get better from those tough days.

Q: Having been retained, what are your plans with Punjab this upcoming season?

A: Having been retained in Punjab, it shows that they have faith in me. The plan is to repay that faith. The plan is to win the trophy for that. I want to win an IPL trophy, and it will be very nice to win the trophy with them. I want to find ways to contribute, find ways to get the team success. I feel like there is more meaning, or it's more enjoyable when your performances come when you're winning.

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