There were goosebumps and then there were the jitters. But 19-year-old Tanmay Agarwal put all that behind him and slammed a century on Ranji Trophy debut.
The southpaw, who replaced the free-stroking Tirumalasetty Suman in the Hyderabad squad, says he only followed what his coaches had taught him.
“I was nervous at the start but soon what the coaches taught me – stay there in the middle as long as possible – kept coming back to my mind repeatedly. I am glad that I finished the day with an unbeaten century,” remarked a delighted Tanmay, who idolises Gautam Gambhir.
“Somehow, I had an instinct that I would play a big knock today. This may be because of the confidence I got after scoring a ton on my debut in the K.S. Subbaiah Pillai Trophy against Karnataka a few days ago,” points out the articulate young opener.
He spent a long time, 34 balls to reach 100 from 95.
“I was thinking of only batting through the day. The Goans were sledging, but I kept my cool, for I was aware of the bigger task ahead. Thanks to the cool Vihari (his partner in the double century stand for second wicket), I felt very comfortable and could focus more on my batting,” he claimed.
Tanmay made it to the Ranji squad by the sheer weight of his consistency in the local leagues and age-group matches. He is grateful to his first coach and HCA president Arshad Ayub and the coaches at Daniel’s Cricket Academy for all the guidance.
The first-year B.Com student of Aurora College wants to keep the momentum going. “The ultimate dream is to play for India one day,” signed off Tanmay with a smile.
