“He is a serious contender”, Chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma gives an update on picking Sarfaraz Khan for Team India

On Monday, BCCI named the Indian Team for the assignments against New Zealand and Bangladesh. Surprisingly, Sarfaraz Khan was overlooked for the Tests against Bangladesh. That said, there was a justification for leaving him out. Here, we take a look as Chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma gives an update on picking Sarfaraz Khan for Team India.

Sarfaraz Khan does not find a place in Team India

Squad for Bangladesh Tests:

Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav.

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— BCCI (@BCCI) October 31, 2022

In 29 FC matches till now, Sarfaraz has scored 2928 runs at an average of 81.33. In the recently concluded Ranji Trophy, Sarfaraz’s average was around 122. He even got four centuries in the tournament. The right-handed batter also did well when he played for the Rest of India. Despite the efforts, Sarfaraz did not get a chance in the Test squad.

Speaking about the same in a virtual press interaction, the Chairman of Selectors Chetan Sharma

said, “He is a serious contender and he will definitely get a chance very soon. He added, “Sarfaraz Khan is being followed and we have given him opportunities in India A. I have spoken to him and he’s not that far away. Sometimes people need to do more to replace current players and he was discussed for a brief period.” It needs to be seen if Sarfaraz would get a chance in the coming tournaments

Indian Test Team will undergo a transition

After the conclusion of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, India is set for a transition. In the bowling department, India has already decided to move on from Ishant Sharma. Even Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha will find it hard to make a comeback.

Hence, a lot of positions will open up. In this context, we could see a lot of debutantes in the next year. Sarfaraz Khan will surely be one of them. India needs some quality cricketers in the middle order and therefore, the youngster can be given a chance.