KL Rahul is likely to open alongside Abhimanyu Easwaran in India A’s second unofficial Test against Australia A, which begins on Thursday in Melbourne. With India likely to be without Rohit Sharma at the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran seem set for a direct face-off to be selected as Yashaswi Jaiswal’s opening partner for the first Test in Perth, which starts on November 22.
ESPNCricinfo understands that Rahul and Dhruv Jurel, who departed for Australia before the rest of the Test squad to gain game-time playing for India A, will both feature in the Melbourne four-day game. With Rahul partnering Abhimanyu Easwaran at the top, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who opened in the first unofficial Test in Mackay, is set to drop down into the middle order, with Jurel taking the wicketkeeping gloves from Ishan Kishan.
Rohit Sharma’s absence from Perth Test a big opportunity for Abhimanyu Easwaran
India captain Rohit’s participation in the early part of the Australia tour is in doubt for personal reasons. There is still some uncertainty around this, and on Sunday, at the end of the 3-0 home-series defeat to New Zealand, he said he “wasn’t too sure if I’ll be going to [Perth]”.
If Rohit is unavailable, India’s team management will have an interesting choice to make at the top of the order. Abhimanyu Easwaran was called up to the Test squad for the Australia tour as the designated third opener, and at the time of selection had scored centuries in each of his four most recent first-class games. In all first-class cricket, Abhimanyu Easwaran has 27 centuries in 100 matches, and averages 49.40.
In the last four years, Abhimanyu Easwaran came close to making an India debut twice in Tests, the latest being in the tour of South Africa last December
Abhimanyu Easwaran’s stellar domestic record
Abhimanyu Easwaran has been on yet another of his formidable runs in domestic cricket, smashing four centuries in consecutive matches across the last four weeks. His run started in the second round of the Duleep Trophy in mid-September, where he notched up an unbeaten 157, before scoring 116 in the third round. He carried the form in Irani Cup to score 191, and later put together a valiant 127 for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy opener last week.
In the last four years, he came close to making an India debut twice in the traditional format, the latest being in the tour of South Africa last December, when he replaced an injured Ruturaj Gaikwad.
KL Rahul, meanwhile, was originally a candidate for the middle order. Since the 2023-24 South Africa tour, Rahul has batted exclusively in the middle order in Test cricket, scoring 339 runs in 10 innings at an average of 37.66 – higher than his career figure of 33.87 over 53 Tests – including a century at Centurion and two fifties.
KL Rahul, however, has plenty of experience of facing the new ball overseas, and is one of only two Asian openers to have scored Test centuries in England, South Africa and Australia. Those high points, however, have come against the backdrop of a less-than-spectacular overall record as opener: 2551 runs in 75 innings at 34.94.
Following his stellar domestic season Abhimanyu Easwaran opens up on what it feels to get to the National team call .
Abhimanyu Easwaran opens up on the challenge to be faced at the International level.
Despite the stunning run, Abhimanyu Easwaran was ignored by the India selectors, yet again, for a place in the Test squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand at home. However, the Bengal opener, in conversation with the Indian Express, admitted that the selectors’ act only gave him more “clarity
He said:
“I had clarity that now I’ve to continue playing Ranji Trophy. So I just went back to my preparation and made sure that I don’t do anything different just because I didn’t get a call up. If there is something going on in my mind I have a chat with my friends or my coach and get it out of my head
“It is a challenge for sure. Sometimes, you just want to leave everything (give up). But then you face the reality. The things that you did well in domestic cricket is what has earned you a place in the team. Just because I didn’t get an opportunity to play, doesn’t mean I have to change things. At this point it is all about keeping myself ready whenever an opportunity comes,” he added.
A recent PTI report claimed that India captain Rohit Sharma is likely to miss the opening Test match against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series next month, with Easwaran emerging as the likely candidate to cover the gap for the Perth game. This came jus days after another media report claimed that Ruturaj Gaikwad is likely to take the back-up opener role in the Australia series. In fact, the Maharashtra batter is also slated to lead the India A squad in an internal game against the Rohit-led side ahead of the Australia series.
Abhimanyu Easwaran, who is likely to be part of the India A squad, is looking forward to the contest and the tour of Australia.
“You are playing in conditions where the Test series will be played. So you have the chance to get used to it. Even if you are going to get one game, you will not feel out of place. It will give an extra advantage,” he said.
Given all the possible permutations in Perth, the selectors and team management will likely pay as much attention to Jurel’s displays in Melbourne with both bat and gloves as they do to those of Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran against the new ball.