The fact that Abhimanyu Easwaran was left out of India’s starting XI for the opening Test match against England, which started on Friday, June 20, extended his wait to receive his first Test cap. Rather, India chose to give 23-year-old Sai Sudharsan, who just concluded as the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2025 top run scorer, his Test debut.
For a number of years, Easwaran has been present in the Indian setup. He hasn’t yet succeeded in making an appearance in the starting lineup, though. During the 2024–25 Border-Gavaskar series, the Bengal batter played for the Indian squad. But he was not given a game.
Many anticipated that Easwaran would take one of the two positions when Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from the longest format last month. Following two recent unofficial Test matches against the England Lions, he was named captain of the India A team. The second inning was when the right-handed batter scored both of his half-centuries.
According to reports, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sudharsan scored 39 and 38 points, respectively, in last week’s intra-squad match in Kent. But on Friday, it was the child who was chosen.
The Indian team administration has been accused of “IPL favouritism” by several fans including former cricketer Mohammad Kaif, who was not pleased with this. Easwaran scored 127*, 191, 116, 19, 157*, 13, 4, 200*, 72, 65 during the previous domestic season. The Bengal batsman has already scored 7841 runs from 103 games at an average of 48.70 in his first-class career, with 27 hundreds and 31 fifties. Conversely, after 29 red-ball games, Sudharsan’s average is 39.93.
Abhimanyu Easwaran deserves to be in the playing XI before Sai Sudarshan. Easwaran’s 27 first-class hundreds, almost 8k FC runs need to be respected. By dropping Sarfraz, someone who scored runs for India A in England, selectors made a mistake. They shouldn’t repeat it by keeping…
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) June 19, 2025
Abhimanyu Easwaran deserved a chance in 1st match. Bcci is treating him like untouchable.
Ipl can’t be criteria for selection in tests. pic.twitter.com/VgMFgtRBt8— Mankirat Singh (@rock0010000) June 20, 2025
I feel bad for Abhimanyu Easwaran,he was not given a chance again today,before him Sai Sudarshan was given a chance,whereas Easwaran is consistently performing better than Sudarshan in domestic cricket.#INDvENG #INDvsENG #ENGvIND #ENGvsIND #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/8j2rcB2sJY
— kuldeep singh (@kuldeep0745) June 20, 2025
It’s just a social media pressure that’s why BCCI picked Abhimanyu Easwaran in the team.
He is never going to get a game for india in near future.He was benched in Australia and will countine to do so in other SENA countries.BCCI thinks he can only survive in Indian pitches. pic.twitter.com/XEQy2XW0Mc
— Sujeet Suman (@sujeetsuman1991) June 20, 2025
💔 Feel for Abhimanyu Easwaran — over 8000 runs in domestic cricket, 5 years traveling with the squad, waiting patiently. Still no Test debut. How long must consistency wait for a chance? 🇮🇳#INDvsENG #Cricket@BCCI @GautamGambhir pic.twitter.com/7Ew9CVIHtB
— Mʀ.Ƭʜᴏʀ⚡ (@ThorWonders18) June 20, 2025
What does it take for Abhimanyu Easwaran to make a debut? I can understand the obsession for Sai Sudarshan but Easwaran understands conditions better purely on experience!
— Charlie Harper 🇮🇳 (@suryatej_borra) June 20, 2025
He is in India’s scheme of things since more than 5 years now and always someone who from IPL comes into squad and plays ahead of Abhimanyu Easwaran.
Indian team selects on basis of IPL and that is the reality. Sai Sudarshan is a great player and will have great career but… pic.twitter.com/I3A5Dt9YP0
— Rajiv (@Rajiv1841) June 20, 2025
Indian cricket seems to run on reputation rather than performance. #Sudarshan ahead of #Easwaran just tells you how you are rewarding your first class structure…If IPL is the way to selection then simply stop Ranji !!! #ENGvIND .. https://t.co/bq4Yzgjjde
— ImNazish نازش (@nazishrahman) June 20, 2025
The first innings ends with Sudharsan leaving for a duck.
Following 91 runs for the first wicket from KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sudharsan came out to bat in the 25th over. Ben Stokes terminated the southpaw’s brief stint at the crease in the 26th over, but he appeared a little uneasy throughout that time.
Sudharsan intended to flick the delivery away to get off the mark when the England skipper sent it down the leg-side. But all he could manage was a slight edge, which a diving Jamie Smith cleverly took. The fact that Stokes and England had sent a fielder to leg gully right before the delivery showed excellent preparation.
Similar to the ball that ultimately eliminated him, Sudharsan attempted to flick the previous delivery but was unsuccessful. With four balls, the Tamil Nadu batsman scored a duck. Yashasvi Jaiswal was batting at 42 as the visitors entered the break at 92/2, and this ended up being the final delivery before lunch.
India
