THE MAN OF THE SERIES performance in his maiden India A appearance has been a "turnaround" of sorts for Mayank Agarwal, who feels that tips from the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid during the tri-series will go a long way in shaping up his fledgling career.
Agarwal earned his A call-up with a strong showing for Karnataka in the one-day competitions but it was not before he was dropped from the Ranji Trophy side.
India A coach Dravid thought the Ranji snub was a "big wake-up call" for the dashing opener, who couldn't do much except for agreeing with the batting great.
"Yes you can say it is a bit of a turnaround. I have got to understand my game a lot better in the last six to eight months. I think the transition started in September last year and slowly I got to understand my game better and work on my gameplan," Agarwal told PTI.
The 24-year-old amassed 409 runs in five innings in the tri-series with the highlight of his stellar effort being back-to-back hundreds against South Africa A.
While he picked Dravid's brain throughout the tournament, Agarwal said a brief chat with Gavaskar too did him a world of good.
"I was lucky enough to spend sometime with Gavaskar sir. It was after our first league game against South Africa. He told me he always looked to bat out a session. There were a lot of questions asked. Things like how to face the fast bowlers across formats. It meant a great deal as he is one of the best we have had," said Agarwal recalling his interaction with the former India captain, who was in Chennai for a commentary stint.
The Bangalore-born batsman has been a regular for Karnataka in the shorter formats, something that helped him get his IPL break well before he made his First-Class debut.
Looking ahead, Agarwal is keen on improving his record in the four-day format in which he is yet to make a hundred in 13 matches.
"Dravid sir told me that preparation before the game is very important and if you do that well, consistency will follow. Everytime after the innings, I could ask him anything about batting. That was great.