Mayank Agarwal, the former India Test batter, has joined Durham for the closing stages of the Rothesay County Championship.

Agarwal, 35, links up with a squad that is riding high in Division Two, with seven wins and three draws in their ten fixtures to date. They have a 40-point lead with four matches of the season remaining, and could secure their promotion by beating third-placed Northamptonshire at Wantage Road this week.

Agarwal has been recruited as a replacement for David Bedingham, the South Africa batter who is returning home this week, having scored a century against Gloucestershire that helped propel his team to an emphatic ten-wicket win at Chester-le-Street.

Agarwal has prior experience of the County Championship, having spent the final three matches of the 2025 season with Yorkshire. He scored 1,488 runs at 41.33 in 21 Tests for India between 2018 and 2021, including four hundreds and a best of 243 against Bangladesh at Indore in 2019.

More recently, he has been in good form for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy, making 678 runs at 42.37 in this season’s campaign, including a best 160 in the final, which was eventually won by Jammu and Kashmir. In 2025, he was part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru team that beat Punjab Kings to secure their maiden IPL title.

“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.”