Indian cricketer Mayank Agarwal, who initially went unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction last year, was later signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore as a replacement for injured Devdutt Padikkal and contributed to the team’s first IPL trophy win after an 18-year wait. Agarwal has now shared his experience of dealing with the auction snub and his subsequent journey with RCB.Agarwal openly discussed his initial reaction to going unsold in the mega auction and his approach to improving his game.“I gave myself 6-8 hours after the auction. Yes, thoughts came; I haven’t got picked, this could have been, that could have been, but I was brutally honest with myself: ‘yes, you aren’t picked.’ There have to be a few places you need to work on, and if it’s even just a couple of things, why not work on that? Rather than leaning on auction dynamics, I just kept asking, what can I improve right now? I listed points with my batting coach and started immediately,” Agarwal said on the RCB Podcast.When the opportunity arose following Padikkal’s injury, Agarwal had to prove himself in a trial with head coach Andy Flower before securing a contract.“Andy was very straightforward: ‘This is a selection match; make it or break it.’ I loved that. I was put in a spot where I had to perform, exactly like a real game. I did well, the coaches were happy, and they felt, ‘This guy is ready; we don’t need to spend time preparing him for the game'” the top-order batter said.Agarwal’s performance in the tournament included a notable unbeaten 41 off 23 balls against Lucknow Super Giants during a chase of 228, where he formed a crucial 107-run partnership with stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma.In his four appearances for RCB, Agarwal accumulated 95 runs with an improved strike rate of 148.43 compared to his previous IPL seasons.He played the same number of matches as he did for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2024. For RCB, he scored 95 runs from four innings at a strike rate of 148.43. In the final against Punjab Kings, he scored 24 from 18 balls, including a six and two fours, helping RCB secure their maiden IPL title.
