Abhimanyu Easwaran’s selection for India’s upcoming
Test series against England has stirred quite the controversy. Easwaran is the standby
opener for the five-match series, as he was for the World Test Championship
final, and is likely to open along with Rohit Sharma since first-choice opener
Shubman Gill was ruled out of the tour with a leg injury.

While the selectors have backed Eswaran for
the series, the team management have qualms about his batting technique and his
ability to withstand the challenge of the English conditions, according to
various media reports.

Hence Prithvi Shaw, who featured in the Sri
Lanka tour, has been called up to the side, with Karnataka duo KL Rahul and Mayank
Agarwal, who is currently ruled out of the first Test with a concussion, other options
for Virat Kohli and the management.

Player Bio:

Abhimanyu Easwaran was born in Uttarakhand‘s capital Dehradun on September 6, 1995. He made his first-class debut for Bengal
in 2013 and made his List-A and T20 debuts for the team in 2015 and 2017.

Also Read | Ben Stokes should take as much time as he needs away from cricket: Joe Root

In 64 first-class matches so far, Easwaran
has scored 4,401 runs, including 13 centuries and 18 half-centuries at an average
of 43.57. He featured in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy final, where Bengal were defeated
by Saurashtra. He was also the leading run-scorer in the 2018-19 Ranji season, scoring
861 runs in just six matches at a staggering average of 95.66.

In List-A cricket, he has 62 matches,
scoring 2,875 runs at an average of 48,72. He has also scored 471 runs in 19 T20
matches, averaging 33.64 with a strike rate of 131.19.

Also Read | Kohli’s form to Stokes’ break: Talking points for India’s tour of England

He broke into the India A team on the back
of impressive performances in the domestic level. In a four-day game against
Sri Lanka A in May, 2019, Easwaran scored 233 runs as India amassed 622/5.

Easwaran is one of the few Indian players
to have played in the Dhaka Premier League, where he played for Dhaka Prime.