While many heroes emerged from the recently-concluded India vs England series, there were some players who remained in the shadow. Stars like Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Abhimanyu Easwaran did not get a chance in a single match. Out of the three, Easwaran’s case is interesting. He got his maiden call-up in India squad in 2021-22 but after that 15 players made their Test debut but not Easwaran. His father Ranganathan Easwaran is angry over the repeated omissions that his son is facing. Abhimanyu Easwaran has played 103 first-class matches scoring 7841 runs at an average of 48.70.
“Gautam Gambhir, when he spoke to my son, he assured him see you you’re doing the right kind of things you’ll get your turn you’ll get a long run. ‘I’m not the one who will push you out after one or two matches. I’ll give you a long rope.’ That’s what my son communicated to me. The entire coaching team assured him that he’ll get his due, he’ll get his long run. That’s the best I can say. My son is waiting for 4 years, He’s put in 23 years of hard work,” Ranganathan said in an interview on Vickey Lalwani’s YouTube channel.
“He should have played one down. There is no question. There are not second thoughts about it. No ill feelings for Sai Sudharsan. Where does he fit in? 0, 30, 61, 0 (Sai Sudharsan’s score in Leeds and Manchester Tests). They could have tried Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu has played about 30% of his matches at Eden Gardens, which a green track and he’s got experience of playing on green tracks and the record suggest Abhimanyu is a player who holds the innings for a long time. Records speak,” Abhimanyu Easwaran’s father said.
He even gave the example of Karun Nair, who made a comeback after eight years and played at the No. 3 spot.
“Karun Nair never played a one down. He’s always played two down for Vidarbha and three down for Vidarbha. How does he come into contention of one down? Suddenly you’ll find players who are playing four number and five number they become they become top order batsman. But my son is a top order batsman. He can’t even move to three or four, he can play only opener. That’s the yard stick which they use you know,” he said.
“It is not about blaming selector. Selectors have faith in him. That is why they are picking him year after year in different teams. But the question is I feel IPL should not prevail over Ranji Trophy.”
The senior Easwaran went on to say that Abhimanyu was asked to play one down to take Cheteshwar Pujara‘s place.
“Abhimanyu was picked up for the India A side. He went to South Africa. With the advice of the Indian coaches at the time, Abhimanyu was asked to play one down, as Cheteshwar Pujara was leaving cricket. So he played at No. 3 and scored 103 against Marco Jansen and five other quality bowlers,” he said.
“By the time he came back from South Africa, Bengal lost in the quarterfinals to Karnataka. Karnataka played a pre-quarterfinal against Saurashtra. Bengal were out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy by then. So the talent scouts had nothing recent to show on paper. And this perception—along with the absence of an IPL record in my son’s profile—is what I feel became a basic impediment to his India selection.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a press release)