India vs South Africa: 1st Test: Mayank Agarwal says he likes to set tone for the team

Visakhapatnam, October 3: Mayank Agarwal sunk several records en route his 215, also his maiden three-figure mark in Test cricket, during the second day's play of the first Test against South Africa at the ACA-VDCA stadium here on Friday (October 3).

At the end of the day's play, Agarwal said as an opener it is his job to set the tone for the team and happy that it came off this day. Excerpts:

Scoring fast after 100: Just having crossed that milestone, it put some nerves to ease and then having played on this wicket for some time, gave me confidence. We had good measure of their bowling. Once I got to a big score, we made sure that we put the pressure back on the bowlers, put away the loose balls.

On thinking about a big score once set: You can't think about what is going to happen if you are not going to get runs. You just have to back yourself and contribute to the team. It is very clear that it is not only about big runs, it is about winning crucial situations. As opener you have to set the tone for your side.

On the adjustments he made during the innings: Little adjustments you have to do in different conditions. In Australia there is more bounce so you have to stand a bit more upright. In India, we saw ball started keeping a bit low. So, these little adjustments you have to make in your game.

On talk with Virat Kohli: He congratulated me and told me 'listen you have 80 now bat through'. Even after I got the hundred he told me to bat long. So, it's about the team and the way they encourage and the environment that is created to go out there and perform. It's not about personal milestones, it's about getting those runs for the team.

On the match situation: We are very happy with the way we have played in the first innings but there is no room for complacency. We are aware about that. We are going to make sure that since we have the upper hand, we will keep coming back keep putting the pressure on South Africa.

On chats with Rohit Sharma: When I played the reverse sweep that was we were talking about. I don't really reverse sweep and we were well set. We were quite happy with the way we were batting and good that were able to manipulate the field. They had started to bowl on the pads and it was nice to get a couple of boundaries so they can shift around players and talking about more ways how we can get runs.