What's next for Mayank Agarwal?

In an interview to Times of India after the India-England series, MSK Prasad, India's Chief Selector had said that Mayank Agarwal is a fantastic player and he will get to play for the team soon.

Mayank Agarwal is seen as one of the biggest rising talents. He has been one of most consistent domestic player for Karnataka as well as India-A. He has scored 3372 runs for the team in just 73 matches. He has also scored 3472 runs in 70 India-A matches he has played. In the 2017-18 domestic season, he scored 2141 runs and was the top scorer of the season.

This whole good work led to his selection in the national team against West Indies Test series. But, he was just made to warm the bench during the whole series. He was not included in India's squad for the Australia Tests as well.

After all this, Virat Kohli said that he will not do any more experiments with the team and it will be very difficult for anyone to be included in the team unless the workload issue occurs. This made it clear that it might be very difficult for Mayank to earn a spot in the squad now.

The whole issue raises the question what exactly is being done to the case of Mayank Agarwal? Why is he not being selected in the team even after so many good performances? Are the good performances in the Ranji of no use for the team selection? Was MSK Prasad's statement to give him a chance actually a matter of just warming the bench?

He has been a consistent performer for Karnataka and India-A

Not selected in the team even after some great performances

We always get to hear from BCCI that good performance in the domestic circuit leads to selection in the team. Then why was the top scorer of the 2017-18 domestic season ignored by the selectors?

Mayank has now constantly been performing for Karnataka and India-A for more than a year. The same has been the case with Rajnish Gurbani- the top left-arm pacer of Ranji in the 2017-18 season. Rajneesh has the ability to swing the ball in both the directions at a good pace but still has been excluded from the team. In short terms, the top performers of the domestic season are not being included in the team.

Was MSK Prasad's statement to give him a chance actually a matter of just warming the bench?

Probably yes. The selectors have looked totally confused on the matter of giving Mayank a chance. Mayank has constantly been promised a spot in the team but has not been given so far.

This was seen during the West Indies tour of India when he was included in the team for the test squad but was not included any of the matches. Now, when Kohli has made it clear that no more experiments would be done to the team, it clearly looks that the whole scenario has been unfair to him.

BCCI probably will need to make some changes in their policies if they want to avoid the same case again in the future. So, let us hope that there are no more such unfortunate stories like Mayank, again in the future.