‘Till the time I play cricket…’: India A captain opens up on Test snub for West Indies tour

Out of many that missed out on the WI tour, two names that have been highlighted the most are Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Ahmed and Bengal player Abhimanyu Easwaran.

The recent team selection for the upcoming series against West Indies, which gets underway on July 12, drew plenty of ire from a host of ex-cricketers. Many feel consistent domestic performers were overlooked. Out of the many probable who fall under this category, two names that have been highlighted the most are Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Ahmed and Bengal player Abhimanyu Easwaran.

Abhimanyu Easwaran was one of the players overlooked by BCCI for the upcoming West Indies series(Twitter)

Fans and ex-cricketers have been vocal about their snub, slamming the BCCI for selecting the Test squad on the basis of IPL performances.

If we look at Sarfaraz and Easwaran, the duo have been prolific, with the former accumulating 2,566 runs in the last three Ranji Trophy seasons at an impressive average of 106.

Easwaran, on the other hand, is the captain of the India A squad and has an experience of almost 90 first-class matches. If we just focus on the Ranji Trophy, the Bengal batter who is now leading East Zone in Duleep Trophy, has scored 2890 runs at an average of 62.79 since the 2017/18 edition.

The players, who have been roped instead, feature Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, but they average below 50. Gaikwad has an average of 42.92, while Jaiswal averages 49.34 in Ranji Trophy. The latter, however, had a dream first-class season last year scoring 1169 runs across nine games, including five hundreds. Both Jaiswal and Gaikwad enjoyed scintillating form in the latest edition of IPL, and many feel it helped their case in earning a spot in India's Test squad.

Easwaran in an interview with Sportskeeda spoke in length about his snub from India's Test unit. He said that he was slightly disappointed for not making the cut, but is confident to get the recognition he deserves “pretty soon.”

“It’s natural to be a little disappointed. But when you have such a big dream, that passion overpowers everything. I obviously tell myself and I have this inside me that I will never give up. Till the time I play cricket, my aim will always be to play for the country. So I want to focus on that. And I am really positive about that opportunity coming pretty soon and I just want to work hard on my game and focus on whatever tournaments I play. I want to be ready for the day I get picked and I just want to give it my best every single day I play cricket,” said Easwaran.

Easwaran was a part of the Indian squad as backup opener that toured England and Bangladesh in 2022 but has not made it to the squad since then.