BENGALURU: Abhimanyu Easwaran knows a thing or two about bouncing back. In the last Ranji Trophy season, the Bengal opener was finding it difficult to convert his starts into hundreds. Known for his temperament, it was frustrating for the 23-year-old.
But the right-hander overcame that problem in the latter half of the season, scoring big tons. He amassed 861 runs at an impressive average of 95.67 and finished the season with two hundreds and a double century — 186, 183 and 201. He was the seventh highest scorer in Ranji last time.
He said his interaction with former India A coach Rahul Dravid and others helped. “Initially, last season, I was getting 50s in Ranji Trophy and for India A too, but I was not getting those big scores. So I spoke about it to Rahul sir and my coach Apurva Desai. I realised that I was trying too much after scoring 60 or so. It happens at times when you feel you are set and you want to dominate proceedings. But one has to play as per the situation,” said Easwaran.
However, things did not go according to plan in the last few months for him. After scoring 233 against Sri Lanka A in Belagavi in May, Easwaran made only 123 in the next eight innings for India A.
On Thursday, playing against India Green in the Duleep Trophy final, the India Red opener showed great composure to hit an unbeaten 102 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. He scored 0, 18 and 22 in the first three innings of the tournament.
“I do not think about what happened in the last games. I was trying to stay in the present. I want to focus on one game at a time. I knew I was batting well and it was just a matter of time to score big. I’m happy that it happened in the final,” said Easwaran.
He looked determined on the second day. He got off the mark in the first ball itself and had a positive approach. He ran well between the wickets and looked comfortable against the likes of Ankit Rajpoot, Mayank Markande and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja. His knock included 11 boundaries and two sixes.
He dedicated the ton to his sister, Pallavi, showing the rakhi thread he was carrying in his pocket. At stumps, India Red were 175/2, trailing by 56 runs.
Earlier, leg spinner Markande scored an unbeaten 76 off 126 balls and shared a 59-run stand with Rajpoot (30) for the last wicket to help India Green post 231.
Brief scores
India Green 231 in 72.1 ovs (Markande 76 n.o, Unadkat 4/83) vs India Red 175/2 in 52 ovs (Easwaran 102 n.o).