The BCCI selection committee on Friday (January 13) announced Team India’s squad for the first two Tests of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
Rohit Sharma will lead the home side with KL Rahul as his deputy. Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer have been picked as batters, while Suryakumar Yadav has also been called up in the Test squad.
Ishan Kishan earned his maiden Test call-up, along with KS Bharat as the wicketkeeper in the squad. R Ashwin, Akshar Patal, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja have been picked as spinners with Jadeja's availability subject to fitness, whereas Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, and Jaydev Unadkat are the fast-bowling options.
While most of the picks were expected, one notable name missing from the squad that caught the fans and experts’ attention was of Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan.
Sarfaraz has taken the Indian domestic circuit by storm with his batting exploits in the last two seasons. He amassed more than 900 runs in the past two editions of the Ranji Trophy – 928 in 2019-20 & 982 in 2021-22.
In the ongoing Ranji Trophy season, Sarfaraz is once again making a mark, registering scores of 5, 126*, 75, 20, 162, 15* and 28* so far.
No wonder, cricket pundits are surprised that Sarfaraz once again failed to make the final cut in the national Test side.
Taking to Twitter, former India opener Aakash Chopra wrote: “There was a bit of an opening in the Test squad…was hoping that Sarfaraz will make it to the squad. He’s done everything that one could do to deserve a call-up. #IndvAus”.
Veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle also feels that it is hard on Sarfaraz to be overlooked by the selectors despite being so prolific in the Indian domestic circuit.
“Very hard on Sarfaraz Khan who has literally broken the door down in first class cricket. You can't do more than he has,” Harsha tweeted.
On the other hand, former India pacer Dodda Ganesh wrote: “Spare a thought for Sarfaraz khan. I don’t understand what else he needs to do to get into the test team #DoddaMathu #CricketTwitter #INDvAUS”.
The four-match Test series between India and Australia is slated to get underway on February 9 in Nagpur. Delhi will host the second Test from February 17 while Dharamshala and Ahmedabad will stage the third and fourth Tests from March 1 and March 9, respectively.
India squad for first two Tests vs Australia:
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav
