Gautam Gambhir & Agarar, did he get a madman in leaving Sarfaraz Khan out of the UK tour?

It is tough being a batter in India. No matter how many runs you score in domestic cricket, there isn’t any guarantee of getting picked in the Indian team, especially when it comes to Test cricket. Look at Sarfaraz Khan. He scored heavily in Ranji Trophy for years, to get his first chance in 2024 against England — scored two fifties there, and yet wasn’t confirmed in the squad.

Sarfaraz K

A few months later, he scored his maiden 100 (150) vs New Zealand in Bengaluru, and then after a couple of failures, wasn’t considered at all for selection in the Australia tour. Cut to England tour now, he was altogether ignored, and not picked in the India squad.

Yet, he had a point to prove. Picked in the India A side, Sarfaraz Khan went about his business as usual, and showed the selectors, how big a folly they had committed, in leaving him out of the India-England series. On the day 1 of the IND A vs England Lions unofficial Test, the 27-year-old Scored 92 not out in 118 deliveries, to send a strong message across to coach Gautam Gambhir, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar.

Although the squad picked, isn’t bad by any means, but it would have been excellent if Sarfaraz was there. Just to talk about his innings, after being rusty in the initial few deliveries, he looked confident at the crease and dealt in boundaries — 13 of them overall. He was particular severe to Rehan Ahmed and Dan Mousley, who gave away over 5/over.

In short, it was an innings that would take Sarfaraz the red-ball batter to new heights.. provided he gets enough opportunities, and isn’t axed after failures. The departure of Virat Kohli, and the non-selection of Shreyas Iyer might have just opened up perfect space for him.