Sarfaraz Khan made his India Test debut in 2024 against England.
Sarfaraz Khan broke down the door to the Indian team in 2024 after years of scoring big in Indian domestic cricket. He made his Test debut against England, scoring twin fifties in his first Test. He scored his maiden Test ton against New Zealand.
However, he was not picked for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, and despite featuring in India A’s tour of England, he wasn’t picked for the England Test series as well.
Since then, there have been rumors that the Mumbai batter has shed over 17 kg, sculpting his body to achieve more strength on the field. He made an immediate impact in the Buchi Babu tournament but suffered a quad injury, ruling him out of ongoing cricket engagements.
Chris Gayle, who played with Sarfaraz Khan for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru franchise in the IPL, urged the BCCI selectors to pick Sarfaraz for the Indian Test side.
“He should be on the Test side. He should be in the Test squad at least, you know. Scored a century against New Zealand at home, not in the squad. I saw a post a couple of days ago. He lost weight. The weight wasn’t even; nothing was wrong with his weight or anything. He’s just fine. He was still scoring runs,” Gayle said in a podcast with Shubhankar Mishra.
“The man scored triple centuries in first-class cricket. So, if they’re using that against him, that’s sad, you know. They should never use that against him. That youngster should have been a part of the squad 100%. I mean, India has so much talent, man, but give the man a run,” he added.
Sarfaraz, who has yet to feature in a match since June, has amassed 4685 first-class runs in 55 matches, averaging 65.98 for 16 centuries.