After a phenomenal second Test match against New Zealand at home, where Mayank Agarwal managed to score 150 and 62 in the first and second innings, respectively, the Bengaluru-lad seems to be extremely comfortable opening the batting order with his childhood friend KL Rahul in South Africa. 

Unphased by the South African pacers, Agarwal made all the right decisions when it came to shot selections, not playing the wide deliveries, and letting the dangerous balls pass him by.  

Indian cricket fans who watched the first session of the first Test in Gauteng can be absolutely certain that other than the one lucky break that he got thanks to Protea wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock dropping him on an outside edge, Agarwal looked well in control and in for a solid inning for himself.

A successful and confident Mayank Agarwal at the opening position also gives a lot of ammunition to Rohit Sharma haters, most of whom also happen to be Virat Kohli fans, to talk trash about the ‘Hitman’. 

At the moment, the fans are simply going gaga over Agarwal’s patience, intelligence and aggression with which he is approaching certain deliveries in South Africa, while also taking some potshots at Sharma.

Openers we want- kl & mayank
Shit we have- roshit

mayank is so much better than that FTB Paytm basher roadshit sharma

It's a blessing if this imposter keep faking injury. Mayank Agarwal is the opener we need than this choker who deliberately failed to snatch captaincy from Virat. #SAvIND #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/OjjuXQimlm

Best Openers

Both Ending HeatMan's Career https://t.co/cVlHg03rLn

Currently recovering from his long-lasting hamstring injury at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, Sharma was unavailable for the three-Test matches of India’s tour of South Africa and that is how both Rahul and Agarwal got to share the opening batting partnership.

A couple of years ago, Rohit Sharma was not the number one pick for the Indian cricket team when it came to red-ball cricket. He was known to be extremely impatient and as someone who could only dominate in limited-overs cricket.

Rohit Sharma in WTC 2019-2021:-

Innings - 17
Runs - 1030
Average - 64.37

• He is the Highest Run Scorer in WTC as an opener!

• He is the 2nd Highest Run Scorer for Team India in the WTC!

The Rise of Hitman in Test Cricket#RohitSharma #Hitman @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/z3h8GPrJBW

However, ever since India’s 2020-21 tour of Australia, Sharma has proven the critics wrong, scored runs consistently and even became the highest scoring Indian batter in the longest format of the game in 2021, while only being second to England skipper Joe Root, who has been in phenomenal form.

If Sharma, Agarwal and Rahul, all continue to stay consistent, Kohli will once again be haunted by the problem of having too many good options for the opening spot and might end up affecting the performance of at least one of them.

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