Discarded India Test Star Heads To County Cricket To Join Five Others

Out of favour India batter Mayank Agarwal has decided to ply his trade in the County Championship and have joined Yorkshire for a short-term deal for the remainder of the season. Notably, this will be the 34-year-old’s maiden county stint and he will feature in a total of three matches before returning to India in time for the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season.

Mayank, whose last Test and India appearance came back in 2022, will be joining five other Indians who have already played in the County Championship this year. They are – Khaleel Ahmed (Essex), Tilak Varma (Hampshire), Yuzvendra Chahal (Northants), Ishan Kishan (Notts) and Sai Kishore (Surrey). 

Fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat is also slated to join Sussex later this month.

Performances by Indians in the County Champions this season.

• Ishan Kishan – 2 matches, 164 runs at 82.00 average, including two fifties
• Tilak Varma – 4 matches, 358 runs at 59.66 average, including two centuries and a fifty
• Khaleel Ahmed – 2 matches, 4 wickets and 16 runs
• Yuzvendra Chahal – 3 matches, 12 wickets and 20 runs
• Sai Kishore – 2 matches, 11 wickets and 24 runs

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Can Mayank Agarwal make a comeback in Tests for India?

Agarwal, who has featured in 21 Tests for India and amassed 1488 runs, has been out of the side for three years now. While he made his Test debut in 2018, a series of inconsistent returns eventually put him out of the side.

After a difficult period in 2020-21 where he failed to score a half-century in ten consecutive innings, he was dropped from the team in favour of Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma. He reclaimed his spot with a dominant century against New Zealand in Mumbai, a performance he supported with two successive scores in the sixties. However, this return to form was short-lived as a subsequent run of eight poor performances ultimately led to his exclusion from the Test squad by 2023.

At 34, it is extremely difficult for Mayank to make a comeback, given the plethora of talented youngsters available for selection.

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