Abhimanyu Easwaran’s name was included in India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar series and his fine knocks in domestic cricket were one of the main reasons why that happened. However, the Bengal star failed to make an impact for India A in the second “Unofficial Test’ against Australia A in Melbourne.
Easwaran was expected to replace Rohit Sharma as India’s opener for the first Test against Australia which is set to take place in Perth from November 22. However, his performances for India A have made his case a bit weaker.
Though it is not yet certain that Rohit will miss the first Test, there are chances that if he does, then it will be either Easwaran or KL Rahul who will open the innings for India alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra heavily criticized both Easwaran and Rahul for not playing any big knock against Australia A.
“They got out once again. It was 0, 4, 0, 4 in the first innings. Here also, whether it’s Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sai Sudharsan, KL Rahul or Ruturaj Gaikwad, no one is scoring runs. India A are not playing well. It comes to your mind that you are preparing for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
However, despite his failure for India A, Chopra suggested that Easwaran would be the best option to replace Rohit in the first Test against Australia if the latter misses the match due to personal reasons.
“For that, you sent your players early to practice and score runs. If they score runs, you could make up your minds to play them. Abhimanyu Easwaran still has bright chances of playing, although he doesn’t have any returns in these unofficial Test matches. Based on that, you feel he is probably not ready,” Chopra said.
