Abhimanyu Easwaran is leaving no stone unturned to earn yet another call-up to the Indian team as the BCCI remains in search of backup batters for the Test squad that will play against New Zealand at home a fortnight later, before travelling to Australia in November for the Border-Gavaskar series. His packed schedule over the last 21 days or more, comprising inspiring knocks, across tournaments, has been a testament.
Easwaran, who was picked as a replacement for Ruturaj Gaikwad last December for the Test series in South Africa, but failed to earn his debut cap, did not make a good start to the Duleep Trophy campaign earlier last month. But he bounced back strongly to smash hundreds in back-to-back matches.
With Ranji Trophy season up next, he travelled to Chandigarh from Anantapur the day after his Duleep Trophy campaign ended, to play two pre-season warm-up matches for Bengal against Haryana, before joining the Rest of India (RoI) camp in Lucknow last week.
On Thursday, the 29-year-old notched up a third consecutive century in domestic cricket, thus sending another timely reminder to the selectors of the Indian team, before adding to his overnight score. But just when he seemed destined to score a double century, he top-edged a leg-side delivery from spinner Shams Mulani as the wicketkeeper, showing excellent reflex, dived to complete the dismissal.
Easwaran was left visibly furious at having missed out on the double century by just nine runs as he smashed his bat on the ground before making his way back to the pavilion.
BCCI fumed over Sarfaraz Khan ‘hypocrisy’
While fans on social media urged BCCI’s selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, to consider Easwaran for India selection for the two upcoming Test series amid his stunning form, few even called out the board over their “hypocrisy,” citing that there were fewer videos shared by the official social media handle on the Bengal batter than Sarfaraz Khan, who had scored a double century for Mumbai earlier in the match.
Easwaran’s knock, along with 93 from Dhruv Jurel, helped Rest of India post a total of 416, thus falling short of Mumbai’s first-innings total by 121 runs.
