BREAKING: Abhimanyu Easwaran ruled out of 2023/24 Vijay Hazare Trophy; likely to miss first India A game in South Africa
Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran has been ruled out of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy with a split webbing. He is also likely to miss the first four-day match versus South Africa A starting December 11, Sportskeeda has reliably learnt.
The development is not only a body blow for Bengal, but also a double whammy for Easwaran, who was in a rich vein of form in the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy coming into the 50-over Vijay Hazare. And as if to rub salt into the wounds, the mishap took place just a day before he was picked for the South Africa sojourn.
The 28-year-old suffered the injury while fielding during their Group E match against Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday. The team doctor has stitched the part between the thumb and index finger in his right hand. He won’t be able to take part in Bengal’s remaining two league matches. The South Africa-bound cohort is scheduled to fly out on December 6, meaning he would anyway have missed the knockouts.
As per a source close to the team, Abhimanyu Easwaran won’t be fully fit in time for the opening India A vs South Africa A game which will run from December 11 to 14. His comeback match will be the three-day inter-squad match which will feature even the Test regulars.
Easwaran, who has been knocking on the national doors for quite some time now, had a stellar beginning to this domestic season. He is currently third on the run charts of the Vijay Hazare, accumulating 272 runs from four matches at an average of 90.66 and a strike-rate of 91.27. He had his highest List A score since October 2018 – a 141 off 138 balls against Baroda. Even in the match against MP, he top-scored with 73 while nobody could cross even 35.
Perennially slipping under the radar in the shortest format, Abhimanyu Easwaran had his most prolific Mushtaq Ali after the 2018/19 edition. Even though Bengal fell to Assam in the pre-quarterfinal, Easwaran was their highest run-getter with 248 runs at a stunning rate of 155.
Full player list and schedule for India A vs South Africa A
1st four-day match: December 11 to 14 – India A vs South Africa A
2nd three-day match: December 20 to 22 – Inter-squad match
3rd four-day match: December 26 to 29 – India A vs South Africa A
India A squad for the 1st four-day match: Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Sarfaraz Khan, KS Bharat (C)(wk), Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Pulkit Narang, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Tushar Deshpande
India Inter-squad three-day match: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pulkit Narang, Harshit Rana, Shardul Thakur, Sourabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini
India A squad for 3rd four-day match: Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, KS Bharat (C)(wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Navdeep Saini