Sarfaraz Khan, who has not been in contention for the Indian team squad, has found some comforting words from his Mumbai teammates Siddhesh Lad. Sarfaraz Khan last played for India in November 2024, in the home Test series against New Zealand.
Sarfaraz had a quiet series, with his 150-run knock in Bengaluru Test being the highlight, but India lost the Test and the series 0-3. Since then, Sarfaraz Khan has not gotten a chance on the Australia tour and was not picked for the England Test tour as well.
Despite recovering from an injury and losing weight, and getting fitter, the right-handed batter couldn’t get the BCCI selectors to give him another chance as he was snubbed for the home Test series against West Indies and now the upcoming Tests against South Africa.
To make matters worse, he hasn't had a great start to the Ranji Trophy season, scoring only 95 runs in Mumbai's first three matches. Even in Mumbai's most recent game against Himachal Pradesh, Sarfaraz Khan was dismissed for 16 runs.
Despite this difficult period, Sarfaraz will have the comfort of knowing that his Mumbai teammates have his back, with Siddhesh Lad addressing the eve of Mumbai's next match against Himachal Pradesh and expressing his support for the batter.
"At the end of the day, he is a human being, and everyone makes some mistakes. There is always that (rough) patch for big players. If we look at the last 4-5 years, he has consistently scored runs.
Somewhere, it could be demotivating as a player, but at this time, it is up to us as a team and support staff as to how we lift him up. We know his potential, and if he plays (well), he will play big innings. As a team, we will try to lift his confidence in any way we can," Lad told the media ahead of the match, as per Hindustan Times.
Although Sarfaraz's average of 27 in Test cricket after six games is a little disappointing, it doesn't speak about his ability against the red ball. Sarfaraz received a call-up after scoring a ton of runs in recent domestic seasons. But during a period when he was supposed to get more opportunities, things have stopped.
