One Indian player after another is heading to the United Kingdom to play the county championship, which is in its last phase. Former India batsman Mayank Agarwal is the latest player as he joins Ben Stokes’ Durham for the remainder of the season. Durham have four more games to play: against Northamptonshire (from September 02-05), against Middlesex (from September 8-11), against Worcestershire (from September 15-18) and finally against Lancashire (from September 24-27).
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“We are delighted to have Mayank joining us for our County Championship run-in,” Ryan Campbell, Durham’s head coach, said.
“With David Bedingham returning to South Africa ahead of their international red-ball summer, it was important we acted by recruiting a high-class international cricketer for the remainder of the season.
“Mayank is a hugely talented batter who has a superb first-class record. We look forward to him contributing to Durham as we look to secure our return to Division One of the County Championship,” he added.
Agarwal played 21 Tests and five ODIs for India and scored four centuries in the longest format of the game. He has not represented India since 2022. The 35-year-old Karnataka batsman is not in India’s scheme of things at present, but he continues to nurture his passion for cricket.
At present, there are quite a few Indian players plying their trade in county cricket. These are Yuzvendra Chahal (Northamptonshire), R Sai Kishore (Gloucestershire), Rahul Chahar (Surrey), Jaydev Unadkat (Sussex), Auqib Nabi (Surrey) and Mahipal Lomror (Surrey). Kuldeep Yadav and Manav Suthar have had short stints too.
The big Durham controversy
Durham have been at the centre of a storm recently after their player Brydon Carse was pictured handcuffed in Derby. Apparently, he was, in the company of Stokes and Matthew Potts, celebrating Durham’s big win against Derbyshire. He was released later without charges but after the incident he was dropped from the England squad for the second Test against Pakistan that finished in another win for the home team on Sunday. Carse was in the squad for the first two Tests, but he was allowed to represent Durham since he wasn’t going to make the English Playing XI for the first Test at Headingley. Durham have since beaten Gloucestershire as well, by 10 wickets. Carse played in that match and picked up four wickets in all. He also contributed 20 with the bat in the first innings.