The BCCI selection committee on Friday (January 13) announced Team India’s 17-member squad for the first two Tests of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
While most of the picks were expected, one notable name missing from the squad that caught everyone’s 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.
Just like many fans and cricket experts, former India opener Aakash Chopra was also baffled by the selection committee's call to ignore Sarfaraz, hinting that he deserved the spot more than Suryakumar Yadav.
"Sarfaraz's name is still not there. He feels he got cheated because his name should probably have come. Bumrah is still not there. That's another news but I am more concerned that Sarfaraz is not there," said Aakash on his YouTube channel.
"When you picked Surya, it means a slot had opened up. In my opinion, Sarfaraz should have gotten that chance because Sarfaraz's first-class average is 80. Apart from him, only Don Bradman has an average of 80 or more in the number of matches he has played," he added.
"So he has done everything in his powers to be in the Indian team. I am a little disappointed, that if you had a chance to select even one guy, because both Surya and Sarfaraz don't come in the XI, Sarfaraz had the right in my opinion. If someone's domestic season is going so good, you should have rewarded him," he continued.
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
