Aakash Chopra questions team management’s selection on Australia tour, says first-class performances must be given priority

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has shared his surprise after Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan didn’t get a single match on the Australian tour. Both the batters have a prolific record in first-class cricket but they were ignored despite ordinary performances from other batters.

Surprisingly, Devdutt Padikkal, who was not even part of the initial squad, was given a chance in the opening Test in the absence of Rohit Sharma after he scored 151 runs in four innings for India A whereas Dhruv Jurel played in place of injured Shubman Gill.

Meanwhile, Easwaran failed to impress while playing for India A against Australia A before the Border-Gavaskar trophy. The right-hander scored 36 runs in four innings at an average of nine. However, the 29-year-old has scored 7674 runs in 101 first-class matches at an impressive average of 48.87.

On the other hand, Sarfaraz Khan has scored 371 runs in six Test matches at an average of 37.1, including three fifties and one century.

“There were two domestic performers with the team during BGT but weren’t given a single chance. One was Abhimanyu Easwaran and the second was Sarfaraz Khan. They saw Abhimanyu Easwaran in the India A matches. They didn’t like him and he was discarded,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

“He was declared a failure without being given a chance, which is a little sad, but this is the reality. Abhimanyu Easwaran is 29 years old. I don’t know whether the Indian team will look towards him again or not. However, let’s be very honest, if Rohit Sharma goes, an opener has to come,” the former India batter added.

Chopra added Easwaran should have been considered by the team’s think tank if preference is given to domestic cricket.

“Who will open with Yashasvi? Will you keep continuing with KL Rahul? Of course, you can continue for now because he has done well recently, but can you give the third opener’s role to Abhimanyu Easwaran? He should be thought about. What is the point if you ignore performances in first-class cricket so quickly?” he observed.

The renowned commentator added that Sarfaraz Khan was similarly ignored by the Gautam Gambhir-led support staff.

“The same is true for Sarfaraz. On one hand, we are asking everyone to play domestic cricket, but are not thinking about those who have done well. Sarfaraz was also there with Abhimanyu Easwaran. To be fair, Sarfaraz has a Test century as well, but he wasn’t given even a single chance despite the batting failing in Australia,” he said.

After losing the Border-Gavaskar trophy, head coach Gautam Gambhir said he wants every player to play in the domestic circuit if they have time but Chopra noted that the entire exercise becomes faulty if domestic performances are not given weightage.

“Dhruv Jurel played but Sarfaraz didn’t. The entire exercise becomes slightly flawed if we are not going to rate first-class performances. I have mentioned these two, but it’s dependent a lot on what the team management and coaches are thinking about them going forward,” Chopra observed.

India will next host England for five T20Is and three ODIs.