'He was disturbed after not being picked for the fifth Test.'
Abhimanyu Easwaran's father Ranganathan Easwaran has revealed that Head Coach Gautam Gambhir assured his son of getting chances in the playing XI during the England series.
But Abhimanyu did not play in a single Test.
Karun Nair and B Sai Sudharsan were given chances to bat at No. 3. However, the duo could only score one half-century each in the combined ten innings between them.
'Gautam Gambhir, when he spoke to my son, assured him, "See you're doing the right kind of things, 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". That's what my son communicated to me,' Ranganathan Easwaran told Vickey Lalwani on his YouTube channel.
'The entire coaching team assured him that he'll get his due, he'll get his long run. That's the best I can say.
'My son is waiting for 4 years, He's put in 23 years of hard work,' Ranganathan said.
'He should have played one down. No ill feelings for Sai Sudharsan. Please understand he's known to me, all of them are known to me. But the question is which place, means it's one down. Where does he fit in? You tell me 0, 31, 0, 61.
'They could have tried Abhimanyu, who has played about 30% of the matches on Eden Garden, which is a green track. He's got experience on playing on a green wicket. And the record suggest Abhimanyu is the player who holds on the innings for a long time,' he added.
'Karun Nair never played one down. He's always played two down or three down for Vidarbha. How does he come into contention of one down?
'Suddenly you'll find players who are playing 4 and 5 number, they become top order batsmen. But my son is a top order batsman. He can't even move to 3 or 4. He can play only as opener,' Ranganathan said.
'My son will fly to Bengaluru to prepare for the Duleep Trophy. He'll spend 10-12 days there, return to Dehradun for a few days, and then head back.
'He was disturbed after not being picked for the fifth Test, he was expecting that call. I told him, "Son, you have lived your dream." He replied, "I understand. I've lived my dream for 23 years, and not getting picked for one or two matches won't shatter that".'
Abhimanyu earned his maiden India call-up for Tests in December 2022 for the Bangladesh tour. However, he's yet to earn his debut even after staying with the team for over two-and-a -half years. 15 players have since made their India debut in the same time period.
He was in terrific form in the 2024-2025 domestic season where he piled on runs for his teams in the Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup and Ranji Trophy.
His scores during the season: 127*, 191, 116, 19, 157*, 13, 4, 200*, 72, 65. In his first-class career so far, the Bengal batter has scored 7,841 runs from 103 matches at an average of 48.70 with 27 hundreds and 31 fifties.
India's next Test assignment is the back-to-back home series against the West Indies and South Africa, and Abhimanyu will hope to get the long-awaited Test cap.
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