Abhimanyu Easwaran, a name that has been a topic of discussion in Indian cricket for the last few years.
This 29-year-old batsman is waiting for his debut in the Indian Test team despite his excellent form and rain of runs. But now his father Ranganathan Parameswaran is furious.
He has lashed out at Team India coach Gautam Gambhir and BCCI. He says that Abhimanyu was made the successor of Cheteshwar Pujara, but the ghost of IPL is taking a toll on his son’s career.
Ranganathan spoke openly on Vicky Lalwani’s YouTube channel.
He said, “Abhimanyu was picked up for the India A side. He went to South Africa. With the advice of the Indian coaches at the time, Abhimanyu was asked to play one down, as Cheteshwar Pujara was leaving cricket. So he played at No. 3 and scored 103 against Marco Jansen and five other quality bowlers.”
But even after this, Abhimanyu did not get a place in the senior Test team. His father believes that the reason for this is his son not playing in the IPL.
Ranganathan said, “By the time he came back from South Africa, Bengal lost in the quarterfinals to Karnataka. Karnataka played a pre-quarterfinal against Saurashtra. Bengal were out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy by then.
So the talent scouts had nothing recent to show on paper. And this perception—along with the absence of an IPL record in my son’s profile—is what I feel became a basic impediment to his India selection.”
Abhimanyu’s record speaks for itself. 7,841 runs in 103 first-class matches at an average of 48.70, 27 centuries and 31 half-centuries!
Yet, he has been with the Indian Test team since 2021, but did not get a chance to debut.
From the Bangladesh tour (2022) to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia (2024-25), he just kept warming the bench. Even after the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, his turn did not come.
Ranganathan’s anger is justified. His question is that when Abhimanyu was prepared to replace a legend like Pujara.
So now why are players like Karun Nair being preferred over him? Is BCCI and Gambhir’s love for IPL really suppressing talent?
