Abhimanyu Easwaran is the latest batting sensation in India. His performances in the domestic circuit earned him a call-up to the national team as a ‘standby’. Although he has been around for a while, he was unable to make the squad.

Most recently, an injury to 21-year-old Shubman Gill has given Easwaran a glimpse of hope. Gill suffered shin splints that ruled him out of the England series. Although it’s a common injury amongst athletes, his recovery time was not quick enough. Consequently, he will fly back to India at the earliest for proper treatment.

I suspect, much like with Karun Nair in England in 2018, the team management has a difference of opinion with the selectors over the choice of Abhimanyu Easwaran as the reserve opener. Three openers, and another who has opened in the past, is more than teams normally have

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 7, 2021

Even though Team India already has Mayank Agarwal for the opening slot, Easwaran was deemed to join the squad as a backup. It is yet to be seen whether he will be needed or not. On that note, let’s take a look at 7 interesting facts about Abhimanyu Easwaran:

1) Born in Uttarakhand but plays for Bengal

Abhimanyu Easwaran was born in Uttarakhand on 6 September 1995. Growing up, Abhimanyu lived away from his family. He stayed close to Bengal with his coach Nirmal Sengupta. Therefore, when he made his debut in the Ranji Trophy, it was with the Bengal team.

2) Father owns a cricket academy

Abhimanyu went to practice away from home even though his father owns a cricket academy himself. His father had named it ‘Abhimanyu Cricket Academy‘ well before his son was born. Recently, he went back to the academy to practice for the England series much before his name was announced in the reserves.

3) Back-up plan of being a Chartered Accountant

Abhimanyu Easwaran had decided to have a Plan ‘B’ just in case his passion in cricket doesn’t work out. Since he came from a financially weak background, he couldn’t afford to risk it all on a sport. Therefore, he had prepared to become a Chartered Accountant, which was incidentally his father’s profession.

4) Leading run-scorer for Bengal in 2018-19 Ranji Trophy

Six years into his first-class debut, Abhimanyu had a breakout season in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy. Playing for Bengal, he amassed a staggering 861 runs in just six matches. He had an average of 95.66 in the process. Unfortunately, his team failed to make it out of the group stage.

5) Scored 233 against Sri Lanka A

In a four-day game held in Belagavi between India A and Sri Lanka A, Abhimanyu smashed a splendid double century. On the back of his fabulous knock, India A amassed 622/5. The bowlers then bowled the Lankans out twice, registering a massive innings victory.

6) Big-match player

During the 2019-20 Duleep Trophy finals, Abhimanyu Easwaran scored a patient 153 for India Red, with the next top score being 39. This helped his team defeat India Green by an innings & 38 runs. Rightfully so, he went on to win the player of the match award. This put him on the radar of the Indian selectors. Subsequently, he was announced as a reserve when England toured India in the early part of this year.

7) Played in the Dhaka Premier League

One lesser-known fact about Abhimanyu is that he is one of the very few Indians who have participated in the Dhaka Premier League. He played for Prime Bank, one of the top sides in the league held in Bangladesh. Owing to his good performances, he was called up to the India ‘A’ side that was slated to play against New Zealand.

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