Star Indian batter Abhimanyu Easwaran’s father, Ranganathan, has said that although he is not keeping a count of the days, he is counting the years rather. Notably, several players have debuted since Abhimanyu Easwaran first received an India call-up up but he hasn’t found a place in the XI yet.
It has been 961 days and counting as Abhimanyu Easwaran continues to wait with bated breath for his India debut. While the England tour seemed like his best chance, especially after impressing in the two India A tour games, the continued rejection left him ‘depressed’, said his father, who lashed out at head coach Gautam Gambhir, questioning the logic behind preferring Karun Nair over his son.
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, In 2021, Abhimanyu Easwaran received two call-ups from the BCCI selectors, albeit as a standby — first for a home Test series against England, and then for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand. His first official inclusion in the Indian squad came in 2022, for the Test series against Bangladesh. Since then, he has regularly been part of the Test set-up as a back-up top-order batter but has yet to make his debut.
During the ongoing England tour, India made several changes to their playing XI — including four for the final Test at The Oval — but Abhimanyu Easwaran’s wait continued.Speaking to TimesofIndia.com, Abhimanyu Easwaran’s father, Ranganathan Easwaran, questioned why Nair was preferred over his son. He pointed out that not only has the 29-year-old been consistent in domestic cricket, but he was also picked for the Duleep Trophy, Irani Trophy, and the tour of Australia last year.
Abhimanyu Easwaran’s father makes a scathing attack towards Gautam Gambhir and Co.regarding non inclusion of his son
Abhimanyu Easwaran’s father, Ranganathan Easwaran, has criticised team India’s selection criteria after his son wasn’t picked in the playing XI for the ongoing fifth Test against England at the Oval in London. Abhimanyu hasn’t been able to find his place in the playing XI, despite earning his maiden call-up in the red-ball setup in December 2022 for the Bangladesh tour.
He was once again overlooked for the fifth Test as Karun Nair was given another opportunity ahead of him. After seeing his son not getting his fair chance, Abhimanyu Easwaran’s father, Ranganathan, questioned the management for keeping him on the bench for this long despite his prolific run in domestic cricket.
“I’m not keeping a count of the number of days that Abhimanyu has been waiting for his Test debut. I am counting the years; it has been three years now. What is the job of a player? It is to score runs. He has done that. People said he didn’t perform in two India A matches during the last tour of Australia and didn’t get into the team, which is fair enough.
But Karun Nair wasn’t in the team during the period when Abhimanyu performed before the BGT. Karun wasn’t picked for the Duleep Trophy or the Irani Trophy. Abhimanyu scored close to 864 runs if you consider the period from last year to the current year,” Ranganathan Easwaran told Times of India.
Furthermore, he also mentioned how some players are able to come into the limelight through their IPL performances and stated that IPL performances shouldn’t be taken into account while selecting the Test team.
“Then how do they compare? I don’t understand. They gave a chance to Karun Nair. Fair enough, he scored 800-plus runs. The selectors have put faith in him. My son looks a little depressed, but that is bound to happen.
Some players jump the gun based on IPL performances, which earn them a spot in the Test team. IPL performances should not be counted while selecting the team for the longest format. Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, and Irani Trophy should be the basis for Test selection,” he added.
Even though Abhimanyu Easwaran’s father didn’t mention explicitly, he was pointing towards Sai Sudharsan, who earned his maiden Test call-up for the ongoing series and also managed to make his debut in the series. The 23-year-old averages 38 in first-class cricket and had prolific runs in the last two seasons of the IPL, also winning the Orange Cap in the 2025 edition of the tournament.
On the other hand, Abhimanyu Easwaran was in terrific form in the last domestic season where he piled on runs for his teams in the Duleep, Irani and the Ranji Trophy. His scores during the season read as 127*, 191, 116, 19, 157*, 13, 4, 200*, 72, 65. In his first-class career so far, the Bengal batter has scored 7841 runs from 103 matches at an average of 48.70 with 27 hundreds and 31 fifties.
Abhimanyu Easwaran further played good knocks of 68 and 80 in the two tour matches ahead of the ongoing series, but was still not preferred over Sudharsan, who didn’t even play the tour games due to IPL commitments. Moreover, since Abhimanyu Easwaran’s maiden call up in 2022, 15 players have made their Test debut for India, but Easwaran’s long wait continues. The 29-year-old will now hope to break into the playing XI during the home series against West Indies and South Africa in October and November.
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