“What More He Needs To Do…”: Ex-India Star Questions Sarfaraz Khan’s Omission
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had a stellar season in the Indian Premier League, were chosen over Sarfaraz Khan for India’s Test team.
Sarfaraz Khan of Mumbai was once again snubbed by the selectors for Team India’s impending trip to the West Indies. Despite establishing himself as one of the most reliable batters on the local circuit, a call-up to India has long eluded him. With three centuries, he scored 556 runs in six games at an average of 92.66 in the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy season. He scored 982 runs at an average of 122.75 in the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy season.
Former India batsman Aakash Chopra took to Twitter to criticise the selectors for not selecting Sarfaraz and to question the “sanctity of first-class cricket.”
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“Will Sarfraz be remembered as someone who scored a tonne of runs in First-Class cricket but was never called up to play for India?” I sincerely hope that is not the case. And I hope he understands what else he needs to do to get selected. Otherwise, the sanctity of first-class cricket (India’s heart and soul) would be gone,” Chopra said.
Will Sarfraz be remembered as someone who scored a mountain of runs in First-Class cricket and still never got an opportunity to play for India?? I really hope that’s not the case. And I hope that what more he needs to do to get picked is communicated to him. Otherwise…the…
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) June 25, 2023
The likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who enjoyed a brilliant season in the Indian Premier League, were preferred over Sarfaraz Khan in India’s Test side.
As far as the rest of the squad is concerned, Rohit Sharma will lead the side in both formats, while Ajinkya Rahane and Hardik Pandya will deputise him in Tests and ODIs, respectively.
In another big development, veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara was axed from the team, following his poor outing with the bat in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
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