961 days of wait: Abhimanyu Easwaran warms the bench as others race ahead of him

Abhimanyu Easwaran (X)

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Poll Do you think Abhimanyu Easwaran deserves a chance to play in the Test squad? Yes, he has waited long enough No, there are better options available

The wait continues for Abhimanyu Easwaran . It has now been 961 days since he was first selected in the Indian Test squad, yet he is still waiting to make his debut.Follow Live: IND vs ENG 5th Test A quiet figure in the background, Easwaran has travelled with the team across tours, often as a backup opener, but the cap has never come. Since his first call-up, 15 other players have gone on to make their Test debuts. That list includes names like KS Bharat, Suryakumar Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Akash Deep, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Sai Sudharsan, and Anshul Kamboj.What makes it harder is that he has been with the team across multiple leadership changes. Rohit Sharma was the captain when he first came in, and now Gautam Gambhir is part of the think tank. Yet Easwaran has remained a reserve option.So far he has not played a single match despite being part of both the Border Gavaskar Trophy series and the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England. Zero games in two major Test series says a lot about how unlucky or sidelined he has been.For someone who has done the hard yards in domestic cricket and been around for so long, it is a tough pill to swallow. The team has often picked younger or more aggressive options ahead of him. Easwaran waits patiently. But how long will that patience last?

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