For me, it's about focusing on the things at hand: Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal led Punjab Kings last season [Source: Twitter]

Mayank Agarwal had a rough Indian Premier League (IPL) season this year and was unfortunately not retained by the Punjab Kings franchise. Agarwal, who captained the Kings in IPL 2022, finished sixth in the league standings. The opener's form with the bat, too, suffered, which saw him manage just 196 runs.

However, in the upcoming IPL mini-auction, Agarwal will be the first player to go under the hammer in Kochi on December 23 and ended up expressing his excitement about playing under the new setup in a conversation with Wisden. 

Agarwal is currently leading his state Karnataka in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2022-23, where they drew their first encounter against Services, also talked about his priorities. 

Here's what Agarwal said

“There is a possibility of working with a new setup and that’s exciting. But really, as a player, there is nothing much you can do but eagerly wait and watch. So that’s the thought. Just wait and watch what happens. The domestic season and Ranji Trophy is going on, so the focus is going to be there,”

The 31-year-old also spoke in depth about facing criticism and how he deals with it. 

"For me, it’s not about cutting the noise but focussing on the things at hand. If you can focus on the things you are doing, the outside noise is gone. You can’t hear it. The more you try to cut out the noise, the more it grows. If you just focus on the things at hand, you don’t hear any of it,” 

Agarwal scored 51 runs in Karnataka's first innings against Puducherry, where Day 2 is currently underway in Bangalore.

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