Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has criticized the BCCI selectors and head coach Gautam Gambhir for the Test squad picked for India's upcoming tour to England.

Manjrekar claimed they have selected players on gut feeling rather than performances, and cited the example of Sarfaraz Khan’s omission to justify his point.

According to Manjrekar, Sarfaraz has been dropped from the Test squad not because of lack of runs but due to lack of confidence shown by the selection committee and team management.

Having made his debut in 2024, Sarfaraz has played six Test matches for India so far, scoring 371 runs at an average of 37.10, including one hundred and three half-centuries. His only ton so far came against New Zealand in the first Test at Bengaluru as he slammed a magnificent 150 in a losing cause.

However, the Mumbai batter failed in the remainder of the home series, which India lost 3-0. Subsequently, he didn’t get a chance to play a Test match on the tour of Australia.

For the England tour, the selectors have brought back Karun Nair to the Test fold after seven years while Sai Sudharsan has received his maiden Test call-up.

“Under Gautam Gambhir’s stewardship and with Rohit not there anymore, I see a tendency in this management to pre-empt performances of individuals while making selections,” Manjrekar wrote in his column for Hindustan Times.

“As in, the dominating thought here is to apply their own view of the likely success and failure of players depending on conditions and opposition,” he added.

Manjrekar further stated that Sarfaraz was dropped because “someone important” felt he would not score runs in England.

“Take the example of Sarfaraz Khan. Three fifties and a 150 at home in four Tests and failures in only four innings after that and Sarfaraz does not get a single game in Australia,” Manjrekar remarked.

“For the England tour too, he has been left out despite his performances in recent times outweighing Karun Nair’s completely. So, this non-selection is not about performance, it’s about someone important in the leadership group thinking Sarfaraz will not get runs in England and Australia, and Karun Nair will.”

The five-Test series between India and England is slated to get underway on June 20 at Headingley, followed by matches at Lord's (June 28), Trent Bridge (July 6), The Oval (July 14), and Old Trafford (July 24).

India Squad for England Tests: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav