To the extent that even in the Irani Trophy dressing-room recently, the only discussion any of the bowlers in his team had with him was about when and where they had dismissed him as if he’d never scored a run against them — this in his own admission.
The 2016-17 season has been Abhinav’s second-most prolific season ever. He’s already amassed 1124 runs at 62.44, following up his Duleep Trophy 169 with four centuries in the Ranji Trophy.
As captain of Tamil Nadu he almost orchestrated a dramatic turnaround against Mumbai in the semi-final with an attacking second-innings hundred. Over the years, he’s also worked on solidifying his technique and becoming busier at the crease.
Runs come more fluently than they did against the West Indian and English attacks when he last donned India colours. He’s fitter now than ever before and even indulged a couple of years ago in a Mixed Martial Arts session with Grenadian Andre Winner, who has competed in various fight competitions including UFC.
Abhinav’s Test chances came at a time when both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were injured. His only half-century came in Dominica, a score of 62, and he started the English tour with a fighting 49 at Lord’s. But by the third Test, Sehwag and Gambhir were reunited again. By the time those two faded away, Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan—who he incidentally replaces now—had cemented their place, and Abhinav has also seen Rahul leapfrog him into now being India’s No.2 opener.
