India's Mayank Agarwal joins Pakistan's Fawad Alam in 'unwanted' list

Ajit Vijaykumar 07:40 26/08/2018
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  • Mayank Agarwal (l) and Fawad Alam.

    There is a story about the great West Indies team of the 1970s and 80s. That team was so full of talented players that picking any XI meant keeping a top class player on the bench.

    Most players picked themselves and the fight would generally be for one or at the most two spots. But with so many waiting in the wings, what does the captain do? The story, or joke, is that the captain would pick the better looking player.

    Whether or not that happened during the golden age of West Indies cricket is not the issue here. Maybe there is some truth to the notion that some players miss out simply because they have the wrong face.

    You find it funny? Then what other reason can one come up with to justify the continued non-selection of Indian batsman Mayank Agarwal?

    The Karnataka batsman has piled on the runs in the domestic cricket but he is yet to get a break at the international level. When the squad for the final two Tests against England was picked, it was hoped that a heavy scorer like Agarwal would get a look in, However, the Indian selectors picked Under-19 World Cup winner Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari.

    Agarwal scored more than 2,000 runs in the domestic circuit in the recent 2017/18 season – a record in Indian cricket. He is averaging a shade under 50 after 42 first-class matches and scored a first-class double century against South Africa ‘A’ and a List A ton for India ‘B’ team this month alone.

    But it wasn’t enough to clinch selection. His fate seems similar to that of Pakistan batsman Fawad Alam.

    For the best part of a decade, the left-handed Fawad has been one of the best performing batsmen in first-class cricket with more than 10,000 runs at an average of 55. However, he hasn’t played for Pakistan in Tests since 2009, ODIs since 2015 and T20s since 2010. Not only that, he was even dropped from the new central contracts list.

    So people just have rotten luck.

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