Leg and Off: Were Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran unfairly treated by Indian management in BGT 2024-25?

The Indian cricket team suffered a tough 1-3 defeat in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 series against Australia Down Under. After the loss, there has been severe criticism of some of the top players in the side for their poor performances.

Batting was the major cause of India's downfall and has become a major cause of concern. With the series done and dusted, few have argued whether the management treated the likes of Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran unfairly. Both batters were part of the squad but did not get a single opportunity across the five Tests.

Sarfaraz has already played six Test matches while Abhimanyu Easwaran is yet to make his international debut. While it was anticipated that Easwaran could make his debut in Australia, the batter will now have to wait a little longer to get his maiden Test cap.

With both the batters not getting an opportunity Down Under, it may appear they were treated unfairly given their solid domestic record. But does this hold true?

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The case of Sarfaraz Khan

Sarfaraz Khan made his Test debut against England and impressed with his performances in the series. He scored 200 runs from three matches. However, the subsequent New Zealand series at home was bittersweet for the right-hander. Sarfaraz had a string of poor scores, barring his sensational 150 run-knock in the Bengaluru Test.

Added to India's squad for the BGT 2024-25, the possibility of Sarafaz making it to the playing XI was always doubtful. He failed to score in the warm-up game against the Prime Minister's XI. And with Rohit Sharma batting in the middle order, bringing in Sarfaraz was always going to be unlikely.

In hindsight, considering Rohit's struggles, Sarfaraz would have been a better choice for India in the middle order. But the latter's lack of experience Down Under and struggles against pace could have played on the management's minds. So it may not be fair to say that the management was completely unfair to the batter.

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Abhimanyu Easwaran failed to impress in the India A games

With his consistent performances in domestic cricket, Abhimanyu Easwaran has been knocking on the door for a while now. But he was only included in India's BGT 2024-25 squad as a backup opener.

After it became clear that Rohit Sharma would miss the first Test in Perth, Devdutt Padikkal was called in as his replacement. Picking Padikkal over Easwaran would appear unfair from the outside, but in the two India A vs Australia A games before the series, the former was among the runs while Easwaran failed to impress.

Padikkal notched up 151 runs from four innings while Easwaran struggled to perform, scoring just 36 runs in as many innings. Going by recent performances in Australian conditions, Padikkal was rightly picked over Easwaran in the first Test.

Rohit's return from the second Test was always going to push Padikkal, or Easwaran, out. Moreover, with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal forming a solid pair at the top of the order, Easwaran was rightly kept out of the mix.