I bought chocolates with my first earnings from cricket: Mayank Agarwal

In a conversation on JioCinema’s daily show ‘#AAKASHVANI’, hosted by Aakash Chopra, India cricketer Mayank Agarwal reminisced on his humble beginnings as a young budding cricketer, his idol, and other memorable moments.

Q1) Do you remember getting your first autograph? 

I don’t remember taking an autograph, but fortunately, my father was on an aircraft where Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Joshi, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, and Javagal Srinath were there. We still have that at home. It was a paper napkin, and he took five of their autographs, framed it, and got it for me. I was seven or eight years old at that time.

Q2) Do you remember the first cricket match you watched live in a stadium? 

My first match live at a stadium was the IPL 2008 game between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Q3) Who is your cricketing idol? 

I started playing the game by watching Sachin (Tendulkar) Paaji bat against Australia, but my batting idol would be Virender Sehwag. I had an amazing opportunity to work with him when I played for Punjab Kings.

Q4) Who is your non-cricket hero? 

I’d say it’s Roger Federer. But I also appreciate the way Djokovic is playing. It’s amazing to see the way he competes. 

Q5) Who was your first cricket coach? 

My school coach, Mr Ramdas. However, I have been working with RX Muralidhar sir for the last eight years. Our relationship is not only that of a coach and student. It’s way beyond that. 

Q6) Which was your first cricket jersey? 

It was the RCB IPL jersey. Other than that, my U-13 jersey playing for Karnataka. 

Q7) What was your first expense with the money you earned through cricket? 

We got Rs 150 per day while playing for the U-13 Karnataka team. I bought chocolates with it. 

Q8) Do you remember giving your first interview? 

It was for a bowling performance for my school team. It came out in a newspaper.