Adelaide: Mayank Agarwal became the third fastest Indian batsman to get to 1000 runs in Test cricket, reaching the landmark in his 19th innings Saturday at the Adelaide Oval with a flick off the pads towards the deep square leg boundary for four off the bowling of Mitchell Starc.
The right-handed opening batsman, playing just his 12th Test, is behind Vinod Kambli who took 14 innings in 12 Test matches, and current team-mate Cheteshwar Pujara who took 18 innings in 11 matches.
Agarwal, who had made 17 off 40 deliveries in the first innings and was dismissed by an in-swinger from Pat Cummins, could score just nine in the second innings and was out caught behind soon after reaching 1000 Test runs off the bowling of Josh Hazlewood.
He had a fruitful tour of Australia in 2018-19 when he made two half-centuries in three innings of the two Tests he played.
The Boxing Day Test at Melbourne in 2018 was his debut and he made 76 and 42 in India’s victory. He followed it up with 77 in the only innings India batted at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Since then, the Karnataka batsman has made three centuries, including two double tons and two fifties in 10 Tests and maintained an average of over 55.
The 29-year-old made 424 runs in the Indian Premier League 2020, at an average of 38.54 and was the second highest run-getter for the Punjab franchise behind state-mate KL Rahul who won the Orange Cap with 670 runs.
IANS
