India’s Mayank Agarwal will turn out for Yorkshire during the closing stages of this summer’s County Championship, arriving in time for the trip to Somerset that begins at Taunton on 8 September.
The 34-year-old opener has agreed a short deal covering three Division One matches. He will return home straight afterwards to lead Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy. It is his first county stint, something he has spoken about privately for a while, according to coaches in Bengaluru.
Agarwal was last seen in the Maharaja T20 Trophy – Karnataka’s domestic T20 competition – and, before that, played a supporting hand in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s maiden IPL title after replacing the injured Devdutt Padikkal midway through the tournament.
Despite limited recent international chances – his 21st and most recent Test came against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru back in March 2022 – Agarwal remains highly regarded for his hefty first-class record: 8050 runs, 18 hundreds, 44 fifties, average 43.98. His Test numbers are similar, 1488 runs at 41.33, with four centuries, including a career-best 243 against South Africa in 2019.
He is no stranger to English conditions either. Agarwal toured with India’s Test side in 2021-22 and for the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval in 2023. A concussion in the nets at Trent Bridge ruled him out of that ’21 series, a slice of misfortune he admits was “hard to swallow”, but the experience gave him “a clear picture of what red-ball cricket demands here”.
Yorkshire, currently mid-table, have relied heavily on local products this year and see Agarwal’s arrival as timely cover with the season heading into its decisive fortnight. One coach put it simply: “We need someone who can bat long when the Dukes starts doing tricks. Mayank fits that bill.”
Several Indians are dotted around the circuit in 2025: Khaleel Ahmed at Essex, Tilak Varma with Hampshire, Yuzvendra Chahal at Northamptonshire, Ishan Kishan at Nottinghamshire, Sai Kishore turning out for Surrey, and Jaydev Unadkat due at Sussex later this month. The flow of talent underlines, if anything, how seriously India’s players regard a county opportunity, even one squeezed into a tight calendar.
Agarwal’s Yorkshire debut, weather permitting, should come on 8 September – fresh surroundings, familiar aim: runs, plenty of them.
