In the four matches that he has played so far in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, Mayank Agarwal has been underwhelming. With scores of 32, 1, 4, and 5, on Friday against Gujarat Titans (GT), the Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain and opener has yet not stamped his mark on the 15th edition of the league.
But as first-time captain of a side that’s never won the IPL, he has started off averagely well as leader, with two wins and two defeats, putting his team in the middle of the points table at sixth. It’s still early days, with another seven weeks to go for Punjab to swing either way.
Before the start of the league, from his bio-bubble in Mumbai where all the matches are being held (besides Pune), Agarwal was certain that captaincy is unlikely to affect his batting. “It’s pretty clear in my head: we have a lot of talent in the team. It makes my role in the team easier. Punjab has a lot of experience, so when I am batting, I am just the batsman (and not the captain).”
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Punjab is stacked with quality players in Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Odean Smith, Rahul Chahar, and Arshdeep Singh, among others. England’s Liam Livingstone was their top-scorer on Friday with a 27-ball 64. But it’s a side that’s loaded more favourably in batting than bowling.
Agarwal has been opening the batting this year with seasoned Shikhar Dhawan, who is the all-time second-highest scorer in IPL (behind Virat Kohli) with 5,876 runs in 195 matches. Dhawan replaced K.L. Rahul—another prolific performer in IPL with 3,273 runs in 94 matches at an average of over 45—as Agarwal’s partner in the Punjab team after Rahul was acquired by new team Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the last auctions.
“Obviously what Rahul did for Punjab was great,” said Agarwal, a well-spoken Bengaluru resident who was an opening batsman from his U-13 days at Bishop Cottons Boys School. “We do share a rapport but such is life that we will be playing against each other. I am excited to be on the other side. Shikhar is a great guy—we have played together, have fun together and share a good bond. He is phenomenal and I am excited to have him on board.”
As a first-time captain of an IPL team, the 31-year-old said he is not too burdened by having to prove a point. “Honestly, it’s not about proving to someone else—it’s a great opportunity for us to do something that has not been done before,” he said over the phone, referring to the fact that Punjab has never won the title in 14 seasons. “I am not focusing on the end result but key markers are on how we want to play, the brand of cricket we want to play. We judge ourselves on that. The result of that would be memorable.”
One of the aspects of this brand that Agarwal speaks of is how Punjab bats in the middle overs of a T20 match, a phase that traditionally teams fail to maximise on. According to the website ESPNCricinfo, the team scored 112 runs against Gujarat in overs seven to 16, the third best middle-overs total this season. Punjab have two of the six best such totals, including 99 during their successful chase of 206 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the article adds.
Whether this strategy bears fruit in the longer run or not, Agarwal wants to look at captaining Kings as an opportunity. It’s his chance to take the team that’s yet to go all the way in the league. He can lead them with his batting, which has given him over 2,000 runs in the IPL at an average of nearly 23.
The other opportunity that Agarwal has, as with other captains, is that with 10 teams and more matches, he can experience the change in dynamics to how this season plays out. Besides him, the other first-time IPL captains are Hardik Pandya for GT, Ravindra Jadeja for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Faf du Plessis for RCB.
To add to their batting strengths, Punjab also hired power hitter Julian Wood to help the team turn in the big hits. Wood, a former first-class player from England, has been inspired by baseball and focuses on getting players to hit as far as possible. Agarwal believes Wood has brought his experience and different ideas to the aspect of power hitting. As if to prove the point, PBKS have the highest powerplay run-rate this season—10.94.
Agarwal spent three season with RCB, from 2011-13, scoring 492 runs in 35 matches before moving to Delhi Daredevils in 2014 and to Punjab in 2018. He came into his own with this team, with Rahul at the top of the order, striking more than 400 runs over two seasons from 2020.
Though his form did not get him a place in the Indian T20I squad, Agarwal does battle for the opener’s slot in the Indian team with a host of other players. His record in the 21 Test matches he has played has not been bad, notching up 1,488 runs at an average of just over 40. But he declines to speak about that aspect of his career, wishing to focus instead on the IPL, which can decide his immediate international future.
This season, played with limited in-stadium audience and in only four venues, negates any kind of home-and-away advantage-disadvantage. But that does not bother him much: “We knew the games will be played here (in and around Mumbai) and it will not bother us. We will play the kind of cricket we want to,” he said, in one of several short and practiced answers that cricketers tend to use.
“Right now, it’s the IPL in front of us and I am looking only at it.”
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