Legendary South African batter AB de Villiers picked his choice between Sarfaraz Khan and Rajat Patidar in the Indian XI for the upcoming second Test against England. This match will be played in Vizag from February 2nd onwards.
India trails the five-Test series 0-1 after losing the first match in Hyderabad by 28 runs. Apart from this, India lost the services of Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul to injuries, who were ruled out of the second match. Virat Kohli is already unavailable for the first two Tests due to personal reasons.
India has the option to choose from Rajat Patidar and Sarfaraz Khan to replace KL Rahul in the Indian playing XI. Both Patidar and Sarfaraz Khan boast of good FC records for their respective sides. Patidar also scored two centuries against England Lions in January and Sarfaraz is coming off a 160-run knock against the Lions.
Notably, Patidar had been called up before the first Test as a replacement for Virat Kohli. Meanwhile, Sarfaraz Khan was called up along with Washington Sundar and Saurabh Kumar as replacements for KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja.
Amidst the debate of who should debut for India in Vizag, South African cricket legend AB de Villiers stated that the inclusion of Sarfaraz will be very exciting, considering the Mumbai batter’s extraordinary performance in first-class cricket so far.
“It is very exciting for me. His record in first-class cricket is outstanding and if there is a guy that deserves it, it’s certainly him. He has played 66 innings, 3912, runs, and an average of 69.85. 14 hundreds and 11 fifties, guys that is not normal,” AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
AB de Villiers has seen Sarfaraz Khan from close quarters as they played for Royal Challengers Bangalore together in the IPL.
“It is a very big jump to international cricket against England on the big stage. I hope he gets a chance because Patidar has been also playing well,” De Villiers added.
(Firstpost inputs)
