Mayank Agarwal's ton powers India 'B'

BENGALURU: Mayank Agarwal didn't make the cut when the Indian team for the last two Tests against England was announced earlier this week. His other two India 'A' teammates Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari were preferred. Given his rich form, if the youngster was left disappointed it was understandable.
In hindsight, the move could well be a blessing in disguise for the opener from Karnataka.Warming the bench on his maiden national call-up was a probability and playing the ongoing quadrangular series meant getting more match time. He made the optimum use of the opportunity.
Against India 'A' at the KSCA Alur stadium on Saturday, the 27-year-old gave a telling account of his talent again with a 114-ball 124 to guide India 'B' to a comfortable seven-wicket win.
India 'A' skipper Shreyas Iyer chose to bat on a damp wicket and his batsmen mustered a modest 217 in 49 overs. India 'B' overhauled the target in 41.1 overs.
The man who led the charge was Agarwal. Opening with a strapped webbing after injuring his left hand while fielding, he unleashed an array of shots en route to his fourth century in seven List A outings. He brought up his half-century (61 balls) with a six over midwicket off his Karnataka teammate and off-spinner K Gowtham. He added 97 runs for the second wicket with Shubman Gill (42, 55b) before taking charge of the proceedings with skipper Manish Pandey (21).
Agarwal reached his century with a boundary and leapt in the air before being enveloped in a hug by his skipper. Such was Agarwal's dominance that in his 53-run partnership with Pandey, the latter's contribution was a mere 11 runs.
With his team needing 14 runs for victory, Agarwal mistimed his pull off left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed and was caught by Krunal Pandya at midwicket.
Earlier, Karnataka pacer Prasidh Krishna cruised to his second consecutive four-wicket haul to restrict India 'A'. With the morning breeze aiding lateral movement and his inswingers landing on target, Prasidh's first two overs yielded two wickets. Opener R Samarth (0) misread the line and tried to cut but was trapped in front. Deepak Hooda was his second wicket and he later removed Iyer, who tried to drive a good length delivery and was trapped in front to leave India 'A' tottering at 45/3 in the 11th over.
Ambati Rayudu then got down to rebuilding the innings and was the key man with his patient 75-ball-48 (2x4; 3x6) but was bowled by Shreyas Gopal (2/38). The other India 'A' batsmen were not too prudent with their shots and they breached the 200-mark courtesy Sanju Samson (32; 59b; 2x6) and a 32-ball-35 (1x4; 2x6) by Gowtham.
Brief scores: India 'A': 217 all out in 49 overs (Ambati Rayudu 48, Sanju Samson 32, K Gowtham 35; Prasidh Krishna 4-50, Shreyas Gopal 2-38) lost to India 'B': 218/3 in 41.1 overs (Mayank Agarwal 124, Ishan Kishan 25, Shubnam Gill 42; Khaleel Ahmed 2-33).