'Cricket's just a game' - How Tanmay Agarwal's new mindset is fuelling his run spree

No opener has scored more runs than Tanmay Agarwal's 1699, at an average of nearly 85, across the previous two Ranji Trophy seasons. However, when Hyderabad were part of the Plate Group in 2023-24, his numbers, which included a record triple-century, were often seen with an asterisk next to them.

Then, in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy, he showed that he could dominate attacks in the Elite Group as well, tallying 934 runs in 12 innings. It culminated in a maiden Duleep Trophy call-up for Agarwal.

"I just want to make plans and be relentless and stick to my plans for my first Duleep Trophy," Agarwal said on the sidelines of the pre-season Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai. "If things go my way, good. If it doesn't go my way, he [points skywards, suggesting God] has better plans for me."

Agarwal, 30, is a diminutive left-handed batter who is strong against both spin and pace. He has established himself as one of the mainstays in Hyderabad's batting line-up along with Tilak Varma. Agarwal attributed his recent run spree to avoiding overthinking and going easy on himself.

"A bit of luck and a change in my mindset - the way I approach the game, I feel, has made a difference," he said. "I feel the approach and the mindset played a major role in the way I see things on the field. Before, I used to be very serious, as in if I was not getting the desired result, I would be very harsh on myself.

"But nowadays I have started taking it easy because cricket is a game ultimately. It is not life and death for me. I used to take it as life and death. But now it is eased out and [understand] it's just a game. [If] I make a mistake, I try not to repeat it. I go to the next game with better planning and better understanding of what cricket is. It has helped me in the last two years, and it has worked for me."

Agarwal was particularly dejected when he had gone unsold in the IPL 2022 auction despite scoring a chart-topping 334 runs in seven innings at an average of 55.66 and strike rate of 148.44 in the 2021-22 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He has not made an IPL appearance yet. A conversation with VVS Laxman helped him stay motivated.

"VVS Laxman helped me a lot and gave me clarity," Agarwal recalled. "After that, I figured out what to do and what not to do. What works for me and what does not work for me. When I told him what I was going through, he said it was pretty normal.

"[At the time], I was 27 and a half, I think. He gave me confidence and gave me a [road]map and even suggested [to] me a book by Tony Robbins [an author and motivational speaker]. After that, I haven't thought about the IPL. If it has to come, it will come."

Agarwal has built a strong body of work in red-ball cricket, especially over the past two seasons, and developed the endurance to bat for long periods. Five of his last six first-class hundreds have been scores of 150 or more.

"[Earlier], all my hundreds were 120s and 130s," Agarwal said. "I had it in mind to make it into big hundreds. I worked on my fitness really hard for the last two years so that I don't get tired after just scoring a hundred. That played a good part in the reason for me scoring big hundreds.