Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said Abhimanyu Easwaran’s non-selection in the Indian squad for the upcoming Test series against the West Indies is unfortunate. He added that Sai Sudharsan potentially pipped him to the spot. However, India will take on the West Indies in a two-match Test series, with the first game scheduled to start in Ahmedabad on October 2.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Abhimanyu Easwaran’s absence pains me a little because you have kept him with the team many times, taken him around, but have not played a match. You are not making him play at all. Now he is not part of the team. There was no place for him in the playing XI. I think there would have been a toss-up in the mind between Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran. I think Sai Sudharsan has given enough glimpses for you to persist with him, and this will be the series where he will have to leave his imprint and seal the deal. So Abhimanyu Easwaran misses out, which is really unfortunate.”

However, Aakash Chopra also stated that Karun Nair has been dropped from the Indian squad for the Test series against the West Indies, as he failed to do well in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

“Karun Nair asked cricket for a second chance. Cricket gave him a second chance. We were repeatedly saying in the England series whether he would play the next match. He was doing enough for you to feel that he can do it, but he didn’t do enough for you to say he cannot be dropped,” he said.

“He became relevant, but he didn’t become undroppable. He wasn’t indispensable. The selectors decided that they are done as they expected a bit more, and if they have to go to someone else, they would go towards youngsters, in which Devdutt Padikkal’s name is there. Devdutt Padikkal missed out on the previous tour completely because he was injured,” Aakash Chopra concluded.