Indian opener Mayank Agarwal on Thursday continued with his fine form in Test cricket as he followed up his 215 in the opener against South Africa with a second career international century on day 1 of the second Test in Pune. Mayank laced 16 fours and two sixes in his 195-ball knock to score 108 runs and provide India with a steady start after the early dismissal of Rohit Sharma. Mayank's ton, followed by skipper Virat Kohli's unbeaten 63 helped India gain control over the visitors with a score of 273 for three. After the day's play, an elated Mayank said that a score of 450 to 500 in the first innings would be enough for India to put pressure on Faf du Plessis' men.
Coming back to the venue that witnessed his first-class resurgence, Mayank scored 108 runs to not just steady India's ship on the moist Pune track, but also book a berth for a long run as India's primary-choice opener.
For Mayank, it wasn't an easy start given the initial conditions in Pune partly replicating that in South African tracks. They targeted him with short balls and restricted his scoring with defensive field setups. But Mayank countered the issues with immense composure and in fact, took just three balls to take his score from 87 to 103 - two sixes off Keshav Maharaj and a boundary against Vernon Philander - to score his second Test century. With back-to-back tons, Mayank equalled 'idol' Virender Sehwag's feat of consecutive Test centuries against South Africa as an opener.
"There were periods when runs weren't coming easily, they bowled good spells, tight spells and didn't let us score. Plenty of long distance running, meditation and working on my game (on his approach towards batting), some of the things I could so, some I couldn't, it was always about mental discipline. There was some moisture on the wicket, Philander and Rabada bowled tight lines, we knew we would get beaten, needed to play tight, play the straight lines and wait for the bad balls. 450-500 should be a good score to put pressure on South Africa, don't know if we need to bat a second time," said Mayank at the end of day 1.
En route to his 108, Mayank stitched a 138-run partnership for the second wicket alongside Cheteshwar Pujara where the latter scored 58 runs, his second straight fifty-plus score in the series.
Talking about his feat, Mayank said, "Very happy that I could get back-to-back hundreds, that's a good feeling. The team is in a good position, winning the toss, batting first and with one batsman short, it's a good thing to make runs."
