Former India wicketkeepers and selectors MSK Prasad and Saba Karim questioned the logic behind ignoring the Ranji Trophy performances of Sarfaraz Khan and called his omission from the Indian Test team for the West Indies tour a “shocking decision.”
“I am very surprised. I am perplexed with the thought process of the Indian selectors right now. The guy has literally knocked the door down. What else do you want from him,” Saba Karim told The Indian Express.
Saba Karim has also questioned the appointment of Ainkya Rahane as vice-captain. He said: “You have picked Yashavi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad because you are looking to make that transition, while on the other hand, you have made Ajinkya Rahane the vice-captain. It is like taking one step forward and then two steps backwards.”
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Meanwhile, the former chief selector MSK Prasad has also voiced his disappointment with the non-inclusion of Sarfaraz but has asked the Mumbai batter to take a cue from Cheteshwar Pujara, who was dropped from the team, but kept scoring runs and earned a recall.
“I feel this is not the time for Sarfaraz to get frustrated. The only thing that is in his hands are to keep performing. Duleep Trophy starts on Wednesday and it is another chance for him to score runs. Look, he can only control the controllables,” said Prasad.
“When the famous Fab Five were playing for India, there were many cricketers who didn’t get the chance in the middle-order. Subramaniam Badrinath’s name comes to my mind. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman were delivering at the international level and Badrinath was scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket, but he didn’t get much chances.
“Sarfaraz needs to take the examples of Mohinder Amarnath, and Laxman, who were ignored and dropped but they made an excellent comeback. At present, he can take a cue from Pujara’s grind, who was dropped, he went to county and scored so many runs. He earned the Test recall; now again, he is being dropped, and he is ready to do grind it out again. Getting disappointed is not the solution. I am sure he will get his chance, but he must keep scoring runs,” added Prasad.
Sarfaraz has scored 2566 runs in the last three Ranji seasons. He scored 928 runs in the 2019/20 season, 982 in the 2022-23 and 656 in the 2022-23 season. Sarfaraz averages 79.65 in first-class cricket. In all, the 25-year-old has notched up 3,505 runs in 37 first-class matches with 13 centuries.
Sunil Gavaskar has lashed out at the national selectors for ignoring Sarfaraz.
“Sarfaraz has been scoring at an average of 100 in all past three seasons. What does he have to do to be picked in the squad? He might not be in the XI, but you pick him in the team,” Gavaskar said of the Mumbai batter to Sports Today.
“Tell him that his performances are being recognised. Otherwise, stop playing Ranji Trophy. Say, it’s of no use, you just play IPL and think you are good enough for the red-ball game as well.”
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