"We have to perform & yet play India A, while others directly get India cap" - Laxmi Ratan Shukla calls out unfair Bengal treatment

In the lead-up to India’s squad announcement for the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, fans, experts, media – everyone associated with Indian cricket – were all seeking justice for Abhimanyu Easwaran. The Bengal opener had streaked together three consecutive hundreds, four in his last five first-class matches. His inclusion in the high-profile series was received with much fanfare.

But, while the selectors gave the green light, India’s team management didn’t. All Easwaran got to play on the two-and-a-half-month tour were 96 balls. Of course, his scores of 7, 12, 0, 17 versus Australia A didn’t help. But with captain Rohit Sharma on paternity leave and Shubman Gill out with a fractured thumb, it was a perfect opportunity to acknowledge who’s been knocking on the national doors for years.

“I strongly feel he deserved a chance. Hundred percent. And I don’t want to see him in India A anymore. He’s become a senior player now. And instead of taking them, I feel youngsters who perform well in domestic tournaments should be picked for A tours. I am not talking about just Easwaran but players across the country.

“We don’t find them available for state matches, and I feel that domestic tournaments are more important than India A. The likes of Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran have nothing more to prove. They should play directly for India or domestic tournaments otherwise,” Bengal head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla said in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda.

Devdutt Padikkal, who wasn’t even part of the original squad, was slotted in at No. 3 for the opening Test in Perth. The southpaw spluttered his way to 0 off 23 and 25 off 71.

Of the five specialist batters to have received the Test cap for India since the start of 2023, Abhimanyu Easwaran has scored more first-class runs than all of them in the recent past and beyond. He leads the charts for the last five India A series too. The 29-year-old has been part of the senior squad as well on quite a few tours.

The former India all-rounder minced no words while calling out the disparity.

“This is not the first time Bengal players have found themselves on the wrong side of things. And even now, I am seeing that things are not how they are supposed to be. But what can we do? We can do nothing,” Shukla added.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla met with a similar predicament during the 1999 Asian Test Championship. He was all set to debut against Sri Lanka. But it was Ashish Nehra who suddenly got the cap, even after the electronic scoreboard flashed Shukla's name.

The seam-bowling all-rounder's turn came a month later, albeit in ODIs. But it was restricted to just three games. Despite being adept at both bat and ball, he was phased out in favour of young pacers like Nehra and Zaheer Khan. Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Sanjay Bangar, and later Irfan Pathan, took over the all-rounder’s role.

“I got a break because of my performance. And I have never cried over ifs and buts. But there’s no point discussing my story. Things have been unfair to Bengal cricket for generations now – this has been on record. We have to perform and yet play India A, while others directly get the India cap,” he claimed.

In the three ODIs, Laxmi Ratan Shukla scored 18 runs batting lower down the order and took the solitary wicket of his West Indian counterpart Jimmy Adams.

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"You can't judge someone without giving them a match" - Bengal head coach

Laxmi Ratan Shukla recorded 6217 runs and 172 wickets in 137 first-class matches

Quite amusingly, the same people who sang praises for Abhimanyu Easwaran suddenly started questioning his credentials after the twin failures in the A matches.

“I don’t know how they can judge someone without giving them a match. It’s not right when people say he or she won’t be able to score, before that person even plays,” Laxmi Ratan Shukla told Sportskeeda.

The current Bengal head coach has always advocated new faces regardless of the stage. A 32-year-old Sumanta Gupta was asked to face the new ball in the 2022/23 Ranji Trophy final. The subsequent season saw debutants Sourav Paul and Shreyansh Ghosh walk out for the first five games.

“I am doing the same tomorrow as well. Ankit Chatterjee and Vishal Bhati from the Under-19 side will make their debut. When I have selected them, I need to play them. It’s very important to give confidence to that player,” the 43-year-old added.

One thing, though, people have frequently alleged against Abhimanyu Easwaran is his performance in big matches.

“Bengal playing Haryana is a big match and so is Bengal versus Baroda. But the more important games are the semifinals and finals, where you would both fail and succeed. No one can perform all the time. And it’s not that he hasn’t performed,” Shukla stated.

Easwaran will miss Bengal’s final two group games owing to a hairline finger fracture. Anustup Majumdar’s boys will clash against Haryana before taking on Punjab starting January 30.

Akash Deep is also at the National Cricket Academy, recovering from back spasms. The in-form fast bowler was inexplicably left out for newcomer Harshit Rana, before returning for the third and fourth Tests.

It was one more of the debated decisions taken by new head coach Gautam Gambhir. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who played under his captaincy for three years at KKR, didn’t want to divulge much about the former India opener’s mindset.

“I don’t want to make personal comments on anyone. But there’s a difference between a trophy-winning captain and a mentor who helps their team win a championship. But I always wish the best for the Indian team,” Shukla, who scored 405 runs and scalped 15 wickets in the IPL, said.

Bengal will also miss the services of Mohammad Shami, who is part of the India squad for the ongoing home T20I series against England. The veteran pacer made a painstaking comeback after undergoing surgery on his right Achilles tendon. And for Shukla, it feels like a personal triumph.

“It’s heartening to see Mohammad Shami make a comeback. For the last two months, I have worked with him like the old times. It was me who had given him a break from nowhere. I was the captain at the time and I went out of my way to select him. I told [then selector] Sambaran Banerjee, ‘Give me this boy and I will make him play.’ And you can call this a coincidence that he made his second comeback under my guidance,” he concluded.

Shami will feature in the 2025 Champions Trophy as well. Abhimanyu Easwaran and Akash Deep, meanwhile, have a long wait till June when India go to the UK for yet another five-Test blockbuster.

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