'I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage.'
'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India captain Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.
Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series in Melbourne in December 2018. The opening batsman impressed in his very first outing for India, hitting a solid 76 in his very first innings in Test cricket and followed it up with 42 in the second.
"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the bcci.tv.
Agarwal has managed to seal a permanent place in the Test team with consistent performances. He boasts of an impressive record with 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries, including two double hundreds -- 215 against South Africa in Visakhapatnam and 243 against Bangladesh in Indore last year.
Kohli also lauded Hanuma Vihari, who readily agreed to open the batting in the Melbourne Test with Agarwal, despite not having enough experience in that position.
"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made (Hanuma) Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.
"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.
Vihari, who is a regular at No 6 for India, did well in the tough assignment of opener in the Melbourne Test. Though he scored just 8 and 13 in the two innings, he did his job by playing out the new ball as he stayed the wicket for 66 and 45 balls respectively. He returned to the middle order for the next Test in Sydney, where he made 42 at No 6.
