Left-arm spin all-rounder Ashton Agar revealed that he was told to keep his "chin up and walk tall" by national selectors after being sent back to Australia from the squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, adding that he has "no bitterness" towards the team management.
Agar Agar has flown home to Perth to represent Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup. He has been overlooked for the first two Tests in India with Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann, who was not even in the initial squad, preferred.
"It's not an ideal situation, but you just try and make the best of it," Agar was quoted as saying by news.com.au. "I'm 29 now and been through plenty of ups and downs in the game. I'm in a fortunate position so it's nothing that stresses me out too much.
"There was really clear messaging, they communicated with me and it's a clear path forward with that message - it's chin up, walk tall and try to improve. There's no bitterness around this sort of stuff anymore; that's an old school mentality. I just try and give as much as I can and help where I can."
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Agar is confident that his resilience would help him to be part of a team.
"I do feel like I am pretty resilient and try and front up every day with a smile on my face and be part of a team," he said.
"Going go India is really hard, individually it's hard and it's bloody hard as a team especially against that team at the moment, they are unbelievable.
"I think controlling my attitude had been a strength of mine over the last few years and I am certainly enjoying my cricket a lot more because of that. You definitely bounce back a little quickly from setbacks," said Agar.
Agar will return to India in March with the ODI squad, where he is an important cog in Australia's plans ahead of the World Cup in India later in the year.
