WI Test series: How long will Easwaran have to wait to make the cut ?

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Ravindra Jadeja honoured with vice-captaincy in place of injured Pant; Karun Nair dropped

The agonising wait for Abhimanyu Easwaran, the prolific Bengal batter, to join India's playing XI for the Tests continues -- he has been ignored again for the two-Test series at home against the West Indies next month.

Mumbai's Sarfaraz Khan also did not find favour, ostensibly due to an injury, while the 15-member squad announced on 25 September, Thursday, held hardly any surprises beyond these.

It has turned out to be a 'curious case' for Easwaran again, however -- he has been accompanying the national squad for overseas tours time and again, but has failed to inspire enough confidence in the current regime of Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill, as well as their predecessors. As someone with close to 8,000 runs in first-class cricket, including 27 centuries, he has been part of the touring party multiple times since 2021 -- whether as a third opener or as a stand-by middle-order batter -- but the breaks refuse to come.

In the recent Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in England, where India fielded a new-look team sans Rohit Kohli and Virat Kohli, one thought Easwaran may get his time at last, as Gambhir was juggling the top order around. The nod never came, however. An emotional interview with his father on Vicky Lalwani's YouTube show, reported in the Times in India, where he spoke up about his son's emotional distress, likely did not help Easwaran's case either; or the senior Easwaran's overt comparison of his son with Nair.