Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of the selection committee, and the Indian team management, have allegedly decided to let Abhimanyu Easwaran go for the upcoming Tests. Players like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rinku Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Smaran Ravichandran, and Yash Rathod are being discussed for red-ball cricket.
Under Gautam Gambhir, India suffered a 0-2 loss in the Test series against South Africa, thus the latter’s first win in the Indian Tests after 25 years was marked. It was also the second home series whitewash for the Men in Blue in one year, which drew attention to the decrease in red-ball cricket, and so the question of the future of red-ball cricket got raised.
The loss of India in the Test series to South Africa has been the key reason for the selectors to re-evaluate their tactics.
Not only have the selectors been forced to consider new options for the number-three batting position, but they will also be looking at the position of the Indian batting order at large due to the loss of the Test series. Once that spot was occupied by the stability provided by Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara, it is now open again.
Now it is the turn of the selectors to blame themselves for producing different options that did not pan out. Karun Nair was denied the chance to fill the role during the England tour while Sai Sudharsan’s record stands at 27 runs in 11 innings. He still needs work done on his innings, particularly when batting on turning pitches in Asia.
The selectors feel that before stepping up to Test cricket, Sudharsan needs to be more proficient in domestic cricket and with India A first. There is no room for error in Test cricket, and India has suffered costly mistakes in this regard on repeated occasions.
Abhimanyu Easwaran has been removed from the India Test team plans.
Rohit Juglan discussed on his YouTube channel that Abhimanyu Easwaran was out of the race for the Indian Test side. He went on to explain that the selectors had gradually started to forget about him after the England Lions tour, as Easwaran was consistently unsuccessful in making runs in the high-pressure scenarios.
Let me also share my thoughts on Abhimanyu Easwaran. It has become extremely hard for him now. There is no way you can see him back in the team because a strong consensus has been reached that he has not performed in the big matches,” Juglan stated.
“When we analyze recent India A games, the England Lions series, or the matches against Australia, it is clear that the batsman was not scoring runs at all. So the conversation about him is almost over,” he added.
Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Rajat Patidar, among others, are in the running for Test matches.
Rohit Juglan mentioned that the selectors might place a higher value on batters with good technique who are willing to sacrifice the thrill of the white-ball formats for Test cricket. He cited the players currently in the running, such as Rinku Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar, Smaran, and Yash, as potential for being the next ones to make the cut into the red-ball setup.
“The current scenario is such that very few, if any, technical batters would consider Test cricket as their main option. This is going to be the case if you have such a group of players coming in the system, and to such players Rinku Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar, Smaran and Yash are the most likely ones. All these people have been performing well consistently, and the discussion about them is really intense.”