India, Aug. 7 -- Cheteshwar Pujara might have played his last Test match in June 2023, during the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval. But the Indian team management had seemingly planned his exit two years earlier, with then-coach Ravi Shastri and successor Rahul Dravid reportedly identifying Abhimanyu Easwaran as his Test replacement.

Easwaran backed their vision during the India A tour of South Africa in November 2021, where he was slotted at No. 3 - the same position Pujara held - and scored 103 in the first unofficial Test, followed by 55 in the second.

Speaking to Vickey Lalwani on his YouTube channel, Easwaran's father, Ranganathan Parameshwaran Easwaran, revealed that the "India coaches" had advised his s...