Will Abhimanyu Easwaran get a chance in England-India Test series?
What's the story
India A ended Day 3 of the second unofficial Test against England Lions with a strong lead of 184 runs at County Ground, Northampton.
The day was highlighted by half-centuries from KL Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran.
India A captain Easwaran, who suffered an early dismissal in the first innings, made amends with a valiant knock of 80 runs.
Here we decode the prospect of Easwaran making a Test debut in the upcoming five-match series against hosts England, starting June 20.
Knock
An impactful knock from Easwaran
In their second innings, India A lost Yashasvi Jaiswal early. However, a solid 88-run partnership between Rahul and Easwaran steadied the innings.
Rahul, who scored a century in the first innings, hit nine boundaries in his fluent knock of 51 off 64 balls.
Meanwhile, Easwaran also looked solid on his way to a half-century before falling to Chris Woakes.
He batted aggressively at number three, having smoked 10 fours en route to his 92-ball 80.
Numbers
Has Easwaran delivered consistently?
Though Easwaran impressed in his latest outing, his other scores in the ongoing series read: 11, 8, and 68.
Meanwhile, his preceding FC assignment was a couple of unofficial Tests against Australia A Down Under last year.
He batted four times in that series and recorded scores worth: 0, 17, 7, & 12.
These returns certainly do not help Easwaran push his case for a Test debut and that too in foreign conditions.
Performance
Easwaran competes with these names
Easwaran has been a regular part of India's Test squad in recent years but is yet to receive his maiden international cap.
He fights with the likes of KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, and Sai Sudharsan to get a place in India's top three in the upcoming series.
While Rahul and Jaiswal are all but likely to open, Nair's double-ton in the first unofficial Test seems to have cemented his place at number three.
Prospect
Will Easwaran be the first-choice back-up?
If India for opt an extra batter, they are likely to fit in back-up wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel at number six.
In case, one of India's first-choice top three get injured, Easwaran will have to fight with Sudharsan to get a spot.
Though the latter has just 29 FC games under his belt, he impressed one and all during his Orange Cap run in IPL 2024.
Hence, Easwaran might witness yet another series from the benches.
Career stats
Over 7,800 runs in FC cricket
With scores of 11 and 80 in the second unofficial Test, Easwaran has raced to 7,841 runs in First-Class cricket from 103 matches (177 innings), as per ESPNcricinfo.
The Bengal batter smashed his 31st FC fifty (100s: 27).
Notably, this was Easwaran's seventh half-century for India A in FC cricket (100s: 6).
He owns an impressive tally of 1,865 runs for India A at an average of nearly 40.