The first Test between India and England kicked off at Headingley today, but the spotlight isn’t just on the pitch. India’s decision to hand a Test debut to 23-year-old Sai Sudharsan over domestic stalwart Abhimanyu Easwaran has sparked a firestorm, with former cricketer Mohammad Kaif and fans crying foul, accusing selectors of favoring IPL glamour over red-ball grit.
Easwaran, a 30-year-old Bengal batter, has been knocking on the Test team’s door for years. With 7,841 runs in 103 first-class matches at a stellar 48.70 average, including 27 hundreds and 31 fifties, his credentials are undeniable. Last season, he piled on scores of 127*, 191, 116, 157*, 200*, 72, and 65. He was in India’s squad for the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy and led India A against England Lions, notching two half-centuries in second innings. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring from Tests last month, many saw Easwaran as a shoo-in to fill a top-order spot. But in a surprise move, India picked Sudharsan, whose 2025 IPL run-scoring heroics overshadowed his modest first-class average of 39.93 from 29 games.
A Kent intra-squad game last week saw Easwaran score 39, just nudging out Sudharsan’s 38, yet the selectors went with the Tamil Nadu youngster. The call didn’t sit right with Mohammad Kaif, who took to X to slam what he called “IPL favouritism.” Fans echoed his frustration, flooding X with posts decrying the snub of Easwaran’s domestic dominance for Sudharsan’s T20 flair. (Specific posts were inaccessible due to JavaScript issues, but the sentiment was clear: Easwaran deserved better.)
Sudharsan’s debut didn’t help the narrative. Coming in at No. 3 after KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 91-run opening stand, he looked jittery. In the 26th over, Ben Stokes dangled a leg-side ball, tempting a flick. Sudharsan nicked it, and Jamie Smith’s diving catch at leg gully sent him back for a four-ball duck. It was a smart trap by Stokes, who’d stationed a fielder at leg gully moments earlier. India went to lunch at 92/2, with Jaiswal on 42, and later reached 159/2 after 39 overs, thrilling a packed Headingley crowd.
On the England side, tough calls were made too. All-rounder Jacob Bethell and seamer Sam Cook were cut from the 14-man squad after missing the XI. Bethell, 21, was edged out by Ollie Pope, whose experience and a recent 171 off 166 balls against Zimbabwe trumped Bethell’s white-ball exploits (82 in an ODI and T20I cameos of 23*, 26, and 36* against West Indies). Cook, an Essex pacer, lost out to Chris Woakes, back from an ankle injury, with Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue rounding out the attack. Both Bethell and Cook will head to Warwickshire and Essex, respectively, to play County Championship cricket and keep their red-ball games sharp.
As India and England slug it out in Leeds, the selection debates—Easwaran’s snub and Bethell and Cook’s releases—have added extra spice to an already electric series. Fans on both sides will be watching closely, on and off the field.
