Sanjay Manjrekar has chastised the Indian men's Test selectors for 'totally discarding' Sarfaraz Khan in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, despite his outstanding performances in prior tours. He also claimed that Abhimanyu Easwaran's career was manipulated by selectors.
Sarfaraz, who averages 37.10 in six Tests, played India's final match before the tour against New Zealand but was not given a chance in Australia.
Sarfaraz received his first chance for India against England in the first half of 2024 when he struck three fifties to add to his impressive local record. He scored a superb 150 in the first Test against New Zealand at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, but, like most of his colleagues, he struggled in the next three Tests as India was thrashed 3-0.
Manjrekar also criticized India's treatment of Abhimanyu Easwaran, one of the biggest domestic cricket run scorers, and the media's coverage of the net sessions, despite the team's top-order problems.
“When we had that chat before the first test, I said that it shouldn’t be as straightforward a decision that Sarfraz Khan taken away and KL Rahul put in. I think there was a lot of preemption, a lot of people were playing God with Abhimanyu Easwaran and watching him in a warm-up game and thinking that he was not going to be getting a run. I think that’s not a good way to look at things because cricket springs you surprises,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.
“Sarfaraz Khan was rewarded for his tremendous record at the first-class level. He got three 50s and a 150 but then got out terribly in the next test. But then he was completely dumped. I don’t think that’s quite right.
Even if you feel that Sarfaraz Khan might not succeed on these kinds of pitches, what if he had found a way to get runs, with the third man being his main scoring area? I mean, it was a revelation how he played against England. So let’s not try and play God too much, maybe just watch a little bit, and be concerned about how they’ll shape up at the highest level. But you’ve got to reward people who’ve got runs," he added.
Though Rahul was one of India's finest batsmen in Australia, none of them, including him, were able to consistently produce large scores throughout the series. The squad always appeared to rely too heavily on their bowling lineup, and several batting collapses contributed greatly to the 3-1 series loss.
