Abhimanyu Easwaran, former Bengal captain and a prolific scorer in domestic cricket, once again emerged as a left-field candidate for the opener’s spot in the England series as he was named captain of a powerful India A squad on Friday. India will play two first-class matches against the England Lions at Canterbury and Northampton, while the tour will conclude with a match against Team India.
Dhruv Jurel has been named Abhimanyu Easwaran‘s deputy for the tour, beginning May 30. India A will take on England in two matches. The first game will begin on May 30 in Canterbury while the other will start on June 6 in Northampton. It needs to be mentioned that Abhimanyu Easwaran was a part of India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but he did not get a single game.
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.
The squad for the upcoming five-match Test series against England will be announced soon. India is entering a new phase, as both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have recently retired from Test cricket. Their absence leaves a big gap in the team that now needs to be filled. Yashasvi Jaiswal is confirmed to be one of the openers, but his partner at the top of the order is yet to be decided. Two former selectors Saba Karim and Sarandeep Singh have shared their views on who should open alongside Jaiswal in this important series.
Former selector Saba Karim Backs Abhimanyu Easwaran for Test Opener Role
Saba Karim, who was part of India’s senior men’s selection committee from 2012 to 2016, shared his thoughts in an interview with Sportskeeda. He believes Abhimanyu Easwaran should be chosen to open the innings for India. According to him, Abhimanyu Easwaran has been in the domestic circuit for many years, has solid technique, keeps the scoreboard ticking by rotating the strike, and is also capable of playing attractive shots. Karim feels these qualities are ideal for a Test opener.
He also mentioned that pairing Abhimanyu Easwaran with Yashasvi Jaiswal would give India a strong left-right opening combination. Karim urged the selectors and team management to place their trust in Abhimanyu Easwaran, as he is confident the batter can do well at the international level.
“I want Abhimanyu Easwaran to open the innings for India. He’s been around for so many years, he’s technically a very correct batter, he’s a busy player, he can rotate the strike, and he can also play some good shots. And in my opinion, you need an opening batter like that. Along with Yashasvi Jaiswal, we can have a solid left-right combination at the top.
“So the selectors and the team management need to trust him with that kind of responsibility for the team. I am sure he’s capable of doing well for India,” Saba Karim, who was in the senior men’s national selection committee from 2012 to 2016, said in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda.
India have handed the Test cap to five specialised batters since the start of 2022. The Bengal opener has scored more runs in domestic cricket across the last eight seasons than all of them, and those who are in the reckoning.
From 2017-18 to 2024-25: (Performances in only Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup considered)
| Name | Innings | Runs | Average | 50s | 100s |
| Abhimanyu Easwaran | 84 | 4456 | 61.04 | 14 | 17 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 26 | 1717 | 74.65 | 2 | 8 |
| Rajat Patidar | 79 | 3228 | 43.62 | 21 | 6 |
| Devdutt Padikkal | 58 | 2330 | 42.36 | 14 | 5 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 47 | 1695 | 37.67 | 9 | 3 |
| Sarfaraz Khan | 42 | 3160 | 95.76 | 4 | 13 |
| Sai Sudharshan | 31 | 1284 | 41.42 | 3 | 4 |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | 55 | 2339 | 44.13 | 13 | 6 |
So India, without the conquerors of England, will travel to England for a new battle, a new WTC cycle, and a new dawn of Indian cricket.
Saba Karim’s probable 16: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh/Khaleel Ahmed, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Devdutt Padikkal
India’s squad for England Tests:
Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (VC, WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Arshdeep Singh
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