Meditation, team-oriented goals and backing his instincts: Hyderabad’s Tanmay Agarwal on his productive season

Tanmay Agarwal has been in the domestic cricket circuit for more than a decade. Over the years, the opening batter has been among the consistent performers for Hyderabad, time and again, stamping his class.

This season, too, has been a memorable one for Tanmay as he scored 285 runs in the five Ranji Trophy games, and followed it up with 317 runs in nine Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) fixtures. Riding on his 75, Hyderabad shocked Mumbai in the first game of the Super League, and now has one foot in the final after his 41-ball 73 against Rajasthan on Sunday.

While switching formats in a short span of time isn’t easy, a small tweak in mindset has helped him get the desired results. “Now when I look back, I feel that I was too anxious in the previous years. Like, if I have to give myself an answer about how the SMAT went ahead last year, I would say that it was decent, but I couldn’t deliver when it was required, because I was too anxious,” Tanmay told Sportstar.

“I was always wanting to do something, rather than being calm and waiting for things to happen. So, I figured out that I have to work on this aspect of being calm and let things happen. Because I was well-prepared, it was about letting my instincts take over. This approach has helped me handle the situation in the centre better,” he said.

But it’s easier said than done.

“I started meditating, and worked on my mindset. So, that quite helped me,” he said. Tanmay did not consult an expert, but regular meditation sessions helped him calm the mind. “I could feel a really big difference in the mindset, when compared to last year,” he said.

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Since last year, Tanmay realised that more than scoring runs, it’s important to play innings that would have an impact and help the team win. He prepared accordingly before the season started. “If you are playing and if you are able to provide the team with an impactful innings, that is more valuable than a long innings. This is what I felt after last season. So, I was planned all my innings according to that, aligning them with the team goal. That helped me to take my game forward,” he said.

During training, he tried executing his plans to loose balls, and that prepared him for the matches. “If you are playing a pacer, so you know where are your strengths, where can you execute your shots, what are your chances of executing a ball which is pitched up, what are your chances of executing the shot which is pitched a little short. So, you know your strengths and your weaknesses, and try to master them,” he said.

“It’s similar with the spinners as well. You build your game accordingly and then just wait for the match to come, so that you can fall back on your instincts,” he said with a smile.

Ahead of the Super League stage, the Hyderabad team management was clear in its intent that the first thing would be to better the net run rate (NRR), so that things don’t get messed up in the end. “Over the past few years, we have lost out on a few knockouts because of NRR. We have that in mind, and the way we have approached things so far, we are quite at par,” he said.

High on confidence after two consecutive wins, Hyderabad will face Haryana in the last game of the Super League on Tuesday.

Published on Dec 15, 2025