Cricket | 'He has age on his side' – Sourav Ganguly feels Abhimanyu Easwaran should eye the No. 3 spot

Kolkata: India’s five-match Test series against England perhaps marked the beginning of a new era in Indian cricket with the boys becoming men in a transitional phase in the country’s red-ball format.

In a series where almost everyone put their hands up when needed, only three players — Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh and Abhimanyu Easwaran — did not get a chance to make the playing XI during the one-and-half-month tour.Easwaran’s unfortunate wait to pad up for the national side continued as the 29-year-old continued to play the role of a bridesmaid since getting his first call-up in the national side in 2021-22.

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Some 15 players like KS Bharat, Suryakumar Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy and others have made their debut for India, since the time Easwaran has been travelling with the India side as a reserve player.But in spite of scoring runs in buckets both for Bengal and India ‘A’ sides, he has kept warming the bench.Many thought chances brightened up for Easwaran with senior pros like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring. But even then, it was Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair who found berths ahead of the opener from Dehradun.It was difficult to hide the frustration. “Dad, I still haven’t found a place,” was all Easwaran reportedly told his father over phone from England.

But he was still seen giving his all during fielding on the final day of the fifth Test at the Oval. Former Bengal coach Arun Lal, who has seen Easwaran from close quarters, advised the opener to keep his chin up. “He (Easwaran) is a team man, a great fielder, his fitness levels are very high, and his work ethic is as good as any other in the country,” Lal stated.

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly also feels not everything is over for Easwaran.

“He has age on his side. I still believe he will get his chance,” Ganguly said during a promotional event in Kolkata recently. “I feel batters like Yashasvi (Jaiswal), KL Rahul, (Shubman) Gill, (Rishabh) Pant, (Ravindra) Jadeja have all got runs. It’s only the No. 3 slot that looked a bit fragile. Maybe Easwaran will be tried out there,” he hoped.It was learnt the right-handed player is picking himself up for another shot.

He will fly down to Bengaluru to get ready for the season-opening Duleep Trophy tournament and can also join the Bengal side in a pre-season tournament in Chennai or Puducherry next week.Easwaran’s father, himself a die-hard cricket enthusiast, had revealed in an interview that “Gautam Gambhir, when he spoke to my son, assured him that ‘you’ll get your turn you’ll get a long run. I’m not the one who will push you out after one or two matches. I’ll give you a long rope’.”Easwaran will definitely fancy his chances in the two-match home Test series against West Indies in Oct and if selected he will surely not look back and do his best to cement a place in the side.